Microsoft Sustainability News, Milestones, Partnerships and Net Zero Timeline

Here are more updates....

January 2024 Updates

Multiple updates...

• Generative AI and Microsoft Copilot Capabilities: Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability will gain generative AI capabilities for ESG reporting as part of a software update that's expected sometime between April 2024 and September 2024, the company disclosed.
• Data Centers and Nuclear Power: Microsoft has hired Erin Henderson as director of nuclear development acceleration. Also, the company hired Archana “Archie” Manoharan as its director of nuclear technologies. The hires involve Microsoft's continued transition to sustainable energy.
• Data Centers and Hydrogen Fuel Cells: Caterpillar collaborated with Microsoft and Ballard Power Systems to demonstrate the viability of large-format hydrogen fuel cells to provide reliable, sustainable backup power for data centers, Dallas Innovates reported.
• Funding - Green Steel: H2 Green Steel has raised 4.75 billion euros ($5.17 billion) in new funding for its planned flagship plant in the northern Swedish town of Boden, which will be the world's first large-scale green steel project, Reuters reported. New shareholders include the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.
• Funding - Decarbonization Startup: Dimensional Energy has raised $20 million in series A funding. Envisioning Partners led the round. Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund also chipped in.
• Ecosystem Reporting Guide: Planet, Microsoft and the Gund Institute at the University of Vermont have written a white paper guide to help navigate new sustainability reporting demands around nature-related impacts and dependencies. The white paper is called Accelerating Biodiversity and Ecosystem Reporting.
• IoT and Sustainability: Microsoft Executive VP Judson Althoff, in an interview with Reuters, explained how a new Vodafone partnership will empower customers to pursue their sustainability goals.
• Generative AI and Sustainability: Microsoft has unveiled Splitwize, a technology that improves how GPUs and the Azure cloud process large language models (LLMs). In theory, Splitwize could play an important role in cloud services energy efficiency and IT sustainability strategies.
• Generative AI for Telecom Services: Microsoft is pitching generative AI business benefits to the telecom industry, but the software provider failed to mention potential sustainability benefits in a lengthy generative AI for telecom article.

December 2023: Software, Research

Multiple updates...

• Renewable Energy - IT Services and Software Partnership: Enerjisa Üretim -- a renewable energy power company in Istanbul, Turkey -- will leverage Senkron.Energy's digital services and Microsoft technologies for AI-powered renewable power generation.
• Windows 10 PCs and E-Waste: Roughly 240 million PCs could become e-waste when Microsoft ends Windows 10 support in October 2025, Canalys estimates. Google is pitching ChromeOS as a Windows 10 replacement than can run on most x86 devices.
• Taiwan: Microsoft Taiwan introduced a new carbon management platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Radio Taiwan International reported. The platform, called iCX (Intelligent Carbon Exchange), is designed to help SMEs reduce their carbon emissions and comply with international standards. Key partners include PwC in Taiwan.
• Partnership - Clean Energy Marketplace: LevelTen Energy has launched the Granular Certificate (GC) Trading Alliance -- a collaboration with AES, Constellation, Google, and Microsoft to "build the market infrastructure needed to scale time- and location-based carbon-free energy" for power purchase agreements (PPAs).
• Climate Startups: The company and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) brought 10 sustainability and climate tech startups to COP28. The goal: Showcase how "their innovative solutions are tackling the most pressing challenges resulting from climate change," Microsoft said. The startups included Tomorrow IO, Mitiga Solutions, SEaB Power, Agritrack, Satavia, Nearthlab, Takachar, Cleantech Hub Grounds, Tespak, and Sustainable Planet. The startups are part of the 4th Cohort of the GrowthX Accelerator program, which empowers growth-stage B2B startups ranging primarily from the Seed to Series A stages, Microsoft and ADIO said.
• AI and Emissions Data: Microsoft Sustainability Manager is set to gain AI capabilities that will allow users to "perform deeper analysis on their emissions data."
• Research: While 85% of organizations place a high strategic level of importance on achieving their sustainability goals, only 16% have integrated sustainability into their strategies and data, according to research findings from the software company, plus Kyndryl and Ecosystm.

November 2023: Microsoft Sustainability Software and Right to Repair

Multiple updates...

• Carbon Cost Software: Microsoft Sustainability Manager has a new feature called Carbon fee. The feature, available in preview now, allows organizations to set an internal price (or a “tax”) on their own carbon emissions and encourage substantive reductions, according to Shefy Manayil Kareem, general manage of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.
• Microsoft Surface - Right to Repair: Replacement components for Microsoft Surface devices will now be available directly from iFixit. "This builds upon our collaboration with iFixit to make our products more repairable and will complement our growing network of Authorized Service Providers," the technology giant said.

October 2023: Sustainability Strategy, Milestones, Partnerships and Investments

Multiple updates...

• Australia: The software company will invest A$5 billion in expanding its hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Australia over the next two years, Microsoft said. On the data center sustainability front, "Microsoft will ensure that its new data centres in Australia help meet the company’s sustainability goals of being carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030. This includes using low-carbon materials during construction, as well as using renewable energy, advanced water-cooling features and measures to decrease diesel fuel use during operation," the company said.
• Artificial Intelligence: Microsoft believes AI can be a "powerful accelerant in addressing climate crisis," CEO Satya Nadella wrote in his annual letter to Microsoft shareholders.
• IT Consulting Partnership: EY expanded its technology and sustainability partnerships with Microsoft and SAP.

See next page for earlier updates...