Microsoft is not only monitoring but also participating in these dialogues, in a sense mimicking them. A major new product offering will help customers throughout the world record, report, and reduce their own emissions. We will also provide an update on our commitments to become carbon negative and water positive.
Microsoft’s 100/100/0 vision for a carbon-free grid.
Every net-zero scenario envisioned by scientists and policymakers has one thing in common: enormous electrification. Electricity-powered vehicles and factories might eliminate large portions of world pollution. Providing electricity from zero-carbon sources (wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, or point-source carbon capture and sequestration) and storing and transporting it to where it is needed. Sadly, this is not how the world’s grids work. Today’s electrons come from carbon-intensive sources. A fast electrified civilization necessitates energy storage technologies that are yet in their infancy.
Microsoft’s electricity consumption will be 100% carbon neutral by 2030.
Microsoft has a long-term vision of 100% carbon-free electrons on all global grids. Neither we nor anybody else can control the outcome. Our datacentres and offices worldwide simply tap into the local grid, drawing energy from a massive pool of electrons generated locally and globally. While we cannot control how energy is produced, we can affect how it is purchased.
That is why Microsoft announced its own 100/100/0 commitment, which acknowledges our limitations in controlling global grid infrastructure while maximizing our influence. By 2030, Microsoft’s electricity use will be 100% carbon neutral.
Microsoft is now one of the world’s leading buyers of renewable energy, having committed to purchasing 100% of our energy needs by 2025. Microsoft has negotiated new purchase agreements for around 5.8 gigawatts of renewable energy in ten countries. This comprises over 35 deals, 15 of which are in Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Spain, UK, and Ireland). Globally, we now have 7.8 gigawatts of running and contracted renewable energy projects.
To assist in rebalance the carbon intensity of whatever grid Microsoft operates on, they will continue to innovate their energy purchasing contracts.
