Microsoft wants to go ‘carbon negative’, still helps maximise fossil fuel extraction

One of the most iconic names in tech has announced a bold plan to try to reverse climate change, but it’s got one big problem.

Microsoft is pledging to become 100 per cent “carbon-negative” by 2030 by removing more carbon from the environment than it emits.

CEO Satya Nadella said on Thursday the commitment would happen “not just across our direct emissions but across our supply chain, too”.

It’s a major step up from Microsoft’s previous green pledges. The tech company had previously said its data centres would be 60 per cent powered by renewable electricity by the end of last year, but environmental groups have said it has fallen short of such rivals as Google and Apple by relying too much on purchasing renewable energy credits to make up for its carbon emissions.

“Microsoft has really been in the middle of the pack,” said Elizabeth Jardim, senior corporate campaigner for Greenpeace USA. “Not an ‘A’ student but clearly not doing nothing.”

An aerial image of Microsoft's data centre in eastern Washington. Picture: Microsoft

Ms Jardim said that Thursday’s announcement showed a “more serious and holistic” approach and that Microsoft “understands climate science and the shrinking window for action”.

Microsoft had previously set an interim goal of 70 per cent renewable energy by 2023. It now says it will hit 100 per cent renewable for all of its data centres and buildings by 2025. Google and Apple have already said they reached the 100 per cent milestone. Amazon said it would run on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Microsoft’s announcement was timed ahead of next week’s gathering of elites at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. Catastrophic trends like global warming and the extinction of animal species will be a focus of the conference.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the Microsoft event pledging the company will become 100 per cent carbon negative by 2030. Picture: Ringman/The Seattle Times via AP

Microsoft is responsible for about 16 million tonnes of emissions per year, said Brad Smith, the company’s president and chief legal officer. That estimate includes not just Microsoft’s global network of energy-chugging data centres but emissions from making electronics components for its devices and from everyone who plugs in its Xbox gaming consoles at home.

“When it comes to carbon, neutrality is not enough,” Mr Smith said. “We have to get ourselves to net zero.”

That meant removing from the atmosphere all the carbon one emits, he said.

The pledge to include supply chain emissions follows a similar move by Apple. Microsoft says it will set new procedures next year to push its suppliers to reduce their environmental footprint in the same way it has required some of them to offer their workers paid time off and parental leave. It’s also expanding the scope of a fee it has had since 2012 charging its own business units for each tonne of carbon they emit.

Microsoft wants to essentially erase any sign it ever existed from a carbon perspective by reversing its previous emissions. Picture: AP Photo Ted S. Warren

Microsoft says that after reaching its 2030 goal, it will, by 2050, remove from the environment all of its historical emissions since the company was founded in 1975.

But Ms Jardim said Microsoft was undermining its climate goals by taking the lead among tech firms in partnering with oil and gas companies, providing cloud computing and artificial intelligence that can speed up the extraction of fossil fuels.

Microsoft is also starting a $US1 billion ($A1.45 billion) fund for developing carbon reduction and removal technology.

Do you think Microsoft’s new plan is better than nothing or should it have to stop taking money from fossil fuel companies if it wants credit for climate action? Let us know in the comments below.