Microsoft pledges $1bn to carbon removal schemes
MICROSOFT has unveiled plans to invest $1bn (€898m) to back companies and organisations working on technologies to remove or reduce carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere, saying efforts to merely emit less carbon are not enough to prevent catastrophic climate change.
The company’s Climate Innovation Fund will provide money over the next four years for equity investments, debt financing and other support for the development of carbon-removal technology.
The fund will not be used for the firm’s philanthropic efforts on the climate, although those will continue separately. The software maker is also pledging to be carbon-negative, meaning it will remove more carbon than it emits, by 2030.
“This is the decade for urgent action for Microsoft and all of us,” CEO Satya Nadella said.
Engineers have devised ways to capture carbon dioxide, either pulling it from the exhaust of smokestacks or sucking it directly from open air. The gas can be stored underground or put to use. For example, it can be incorporated into products such as cement. Because most governments do not impose a penalty or tax for carbon emissions, there is currently no monetary incentive for companies to buy the technologies, and developers have struggled to turn them into viable businesses.
Most remain stuck at the demonstration stage, building showcase projects that illustrate what could be done, if someone were willing to pay.
“A billion dollars is a lot and a little at the same time when you think about the investment level that’s probably going to be needed,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said.
It is not clear what efforts or companies Microsoft will back. It will now start to consider options for deploying the funds. There are various ideas and efforts already under development.
Switzerland’s Climeworks, for example, employs a reusable membrane to capture CO2 pulled through machinery by fans. It then sells the concentrated gas, marketing it to beverage companies and plastic makers. Carbon Engineering, based in Canada, uses a chemical reaction to remove carbon dioxide from the air, with the gas either stored underground or used to make fuel.
As it cuts its emissions, Microsoft plans to tackle the amount of carbon it generates and the emissions released into the environment by suppliers and customers.
The company said it will use 100pc renewable energy for all its buildings and data centres by 2025, and electrify all campus vehicles by 2030.