Microsoft have made a shocking pledge to remove all carbon that has been emitted by the company since its founding in 1975. This bold claim comes from the aspiration to become carbon negative by 2030, and the Chief executive has stated that he wants to achieve the goal of removing all of the carbon that the company has emitted by 2050. These claims have overtaken that of rivals Amazon who intend to go carbon neutral by 2040.
The severity of the high amounts of carbon in our atmosphere means that a barrier of gas has been produced that in turn traps heat and alters the Earth’s climate. Without serious changes the climate will further begin to increase and the end results will end in disaster. As well as the pledge to remove all the carbon it has emitted over the years, Microsoft also announced that it would be setting up a billion dollar fund in order to develop technologies to tackle carbon levels.
There is often confusion between being carbon neutral and carbon negative, to be carbon neutral a business must take steps so that it effectively adds no carbon to the atmosphere. Steps to become carbon neutral include – balancing its emissions by removing the same amount of carbon that has been produced, offsetting its emissions by investing in certain schemes that contribute to carbon reduction and by not releasing the carbon in the first place. These measures all drive the change to become carbon neutral however to be carbon negative, the company must remove more carbon than it emits. Microsoft has claimed that it will achieve carbon negativity through the use of carbon capture and storage technology. Although the aspiration is a great one, the fact that such a big company is making steps to reduce carbon levels shows that progress in the right direction is to be made.
