You’ve Raised The Bar: Mahindra Praises Microsoft’s Carbon Negative Initiative

Chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra, took to Twitter to praise Satya Nadella-led Microsoft for its plans to become ‘carbon negative’ by 2030. The company has been carbon neutral since 2012, according to a blog post.

Mahindra, in his tweet, praised Nadella and Microsoft for this bold decision and said that the bar has been raised for everyone now.

In January 2019, Microsoft became carbon neutral by cutting down on its emissions. Besides becoming carbon negative by 2030, Microsoft also plans to remove “all of the carbon” it has emitted since 1975, the company’s launch year.

Microsoft also added that like other companies, it has achieved the carbon-neutral status by investing in projects that primarily avoid emissions, instead of removing carbon that has already been emitted. Therefore, the company has decided to shift its focus to carbon removal. “In short, neutral is not enough to address the world’s needs,” Microsoft added.

To make the initiative a success, Microsoft will be spending close to $1 Bn over the next four years. The company plans to spend this money on innovation that will help in reducing, capturing and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Microsoft’s CEO also tweeted about the company’s carbon negative initiative. He said that Microsoft has a responsibility to ensure that the company’s actions and the products benefit everyone, including the planet.

Microsoft has also highlighted three broad components of its carbon negative growth:

• Shift to renewable energy by 2025 to power its data centers, buildings, and campuses
• Electrify its global campus operation vehicle fleet by 2030
• International Living Future Institute Zero Carbon certification and LEED Platinum certification for Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus and Puget Sound Campus Modernization projects.

The company is planning to cut down 16 Mn metric tonnes of carbon, which is equivalent to15 coal-fired power plants, in 2020. The company also added that the carbon dioxide can cost up to $600 per ton, costing up to $9.6 Bn to remove this year’s emissions alone.

However, Microsoft also noted that as more people adopt negative emissions technology, the technology will become cheaper. The company also cited the example of solar energy, the cost of which fell from $30 per watt to $1 per watt.