Today, Microsoft printed the 2022 Environmental Sustainability Report. 2022 was a yr of innovation, partnership, and progress in opposition to our commitments, all whereas serving to our prospects, companions, and the world transfer towards a extra sustainable future. You can learn the foreword beneath and the discover the report in its entirety right here.
Enabling sustainability for our firm, our prospects, and the world
2022 marked the sixth warmest yr in historical past. Extreme climate precipitated devastating droughts, wildfires, famine, floods, and warmth waves with alarming frequency. We felt the results of local weather change like by no means earlier than, and because the planet warms, we’ll proceed to see and really feel the adverse impacts on ecosystems and communities all over the world. The most up-to-date report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underscores the severity of the local weather disaster, and the pressing want for world collective motion. Meaningful local weather motion requires an everlasting dedication from each authorities and enterprise, with the non-public sector taking part in an more and more necessary function within the transition from pledges to progress. As we mirror on the seriousness of the local weather disaster, we’ve expanded our ambition to fulfill this pressing local weather want by investing in a broad vary of initiatives, applied sciences and approaches that assist a web zero future.
Microsoft’s strategy to addressing the local weather disaster begins with the sustainability of our personal enterprise. In 2020, we made a daring set of commitments: to be a carbon adverse, water constructive, zero waste firm that protects ecosystems – all by 2030. Three years into this journey, we stay steadfast in our dedication. 2022 was a reminder that to mitigate essentially the most extreme impacts of local weather change, our commitments want to increase past our 4 partitions, and we should proceed to speed up investments that may allow progress for many years to come back.
In 2022, we launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, a complete suite of enterprise-grade sustainability administration instruments. We additionally helped to advance a set of world sustainability initiatives that purpose to learn each individual and group on the planet. These embody accelerating the provision of recent local weather applied sciences by means of our Climate Innovation Fund, strengthening our local weather coverage agenda, serving to to develop a extra dependable and interoperable carbon accounting system, advocating for skilling applications to broaden the inexperienced workforce, and dealing to allow a simply transition for the susceptible populations of the worldwide south.
We consider that Microsoft has an necessary function to play in growing and advancing new local weather options, but additionally acknowledge that the local weather disaster can’t be solved by any single firm, group, or authorities. The world neighborhood wants partnerships, new improvements, insurance policies, and world dedication to make sure a wholesome future for all.
Getting our personal home so as
Microsoft’s personal sustainability is our first sphere of affect, and we stay targeted on getting our personal home so as and delivering on our 2030 commitments. We made bold commitments in 2020 and we knew that progress wouldn’t at all times be linear. These commitments are rooted in science and take the mandatory steps to guard our ecosystems and stop essentially the most extreme impacts of local weather change. We are firmly targeted on reaching our 2030 commitments and making the suitable long-term investments that assist the sustainability of our enterprise for many years to come back. In addition to our long-term focus, it’s necessary to pause and consider our progress in 2022.
In 2022, our enterprise grew by 18% and our general emissions declined by 0.5%. This partly is a results of a discount in our direct operational (Scope 1 and a pair of) emissions by 22.7%. At Microsoft, Scope 1 and a pair of emissions account for lower than 4% of complete emissions, whereas oblique emissions, or Scope 3, account for greater than 96%. Our Scope 3 reported emissions elevated barely in 2022, by 0.5%, regardless of a 25% enhance in bought items and companies as a result of enterprise development. The extra constructive outcomes in 2022 are the results of enhancements in our operations, real-time gadget telemetry-based measurement, renewable power investments, sustainable aviation gasoline (SAF) purchases, and procurement of unbundled renewable power certificates (RECs).
While we proceed to work to cut back our Scope 1 and a pair of emissions to close zero, Scope 3 is the last word decarbonization problem. It necessitates the coevolution of greatest practices for enterprise, know-how, and coverage amongst 1000’s of world stakeholders. When we made our carbon adverse dedication in 2020 it wasn’t only a problem to assist the sustainability of our enterprise, it was additionally an invite to the world to take part on this journey, translating ingenuity into motion, and motion into impression. In addition to our carbon adverse dedication, we’ve additionally made encouraging progress towards our 2030 commitments in water, waste, and ecosystems:
Water constructive
We contracted for replenishment initiatives which are estimated to supply greater than 15.6 million m3 in volumetric water advantages, rising our operating complete of replenishment initiatives to 35 million m3. Additionally, we supplied greater than 850,000 folks with entry to wash water and sanitation options, together with 163,000 in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Zero waste
We elevated our reuse and recycle charges of all cloud {hardware} to 82% and proceed to tempo towards our 2030 reuse and recycle aim of 90%. We additionally diminished single-use plastics throughout all Microsoft packaging to three.3% and are on monitor to get rid of their use by 2025. In complete, we’ve diverted 12,159 metric tons of strong waste from landfills.
Ecosystem safety
We proceed to take care of our dedication to guard extra land than we use. In 2022, 12,000 of the over 17,000 acres of contracted land have been formally designated as protected. The quantity of land protected in 2022 exceeds the roughly 11,200 acres of land we presently use.
Amplifying our impression and serving to our prospects obtain extra
Our second sphere of affect is buyer sustainability. As a know-how firm, we’ve a job to play with the 1000’s of company prospects who put their belief in Microsoft know-how. The majority of our prospects have already made a local weather pledge and Microsoft is working to assist them transfer from pledges to progress.
While Microsoft’s emissions footprint is a tiny proportion of world emissions, we even have a job to play in serving to cut back or take away the opposite 99.97% of world emissions. It’s necessary that our strategy to sustainability extends past our personal 4 partitions and helps the sustainability wants of our prospects.
Companies can solely handle what they will measure, and Microsoft is dedicated to serving to our prospects measure their environmental impression in a well timed and correct method. In June 2022, we launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, a complete environmental sustainability administration platform that features Microsoft Sustainability Manager. These new digital instruments can interoperate with nearly any enterprise system and unify knowledge intelligence for organizations at any stage of their sustainability journey. Sustainability Manager permits organizations to file, report, and cut back their Scope 1, 2, and three emissions.
Azure prospects additionally benefited from vital upgrades to the Emissions Impact Dashboard (EID), which helps prospects to know the emissions impression that outcomes from their use of the Microsoft Cloud. The EID estimates Microsoft’s direct and oblique emissions associated to a buyer’s cloud utilization, in addition to the emissions prospects have averted by operating workloads within the cloud relatively than on-premises.
In 2022, we additionally launched a preview model of the Microsoft Planetary Computer to allow prospects to measure, monitor, and subsequently to handle ecosystems that could be affected by their operations, and to make necessary choices associated to local weather danger. The Planetary Computer attracts on greater than 60 petabytes of open-source geospatial knowledge. This knowledge, when mixed with the analytic capabilities of our AI for Good Lab, delivers a brand new degree of planetary insights to firms and governments all over the world.
Enabling and supporting a extra sustainable world
Finally, our third sphere of affect is to impression world sustainability. Just because the attain of Microsoft know-how extends to virtually each nation on the earth, so ought to the impression of our sustainability applications.
In November 2022, the world’s local weather leaders convened for COP27. There have been necessary conversations at COP27 targeted on the uneven impacts of local weather change and the way the least developed nations on the earth are disproportionately affected. For instance, the nations of Africa collectively account for lower than 5% of world emissions however have skilled way over their share of the adverse impacts of local weather change. At Microsoft, we’re targeted on local weather insurance policies and applications that may have a constructive impression on all eight billion inhabitants of planet Earth.
Policy
Microsoft is deeply dedicated to utilizing our voice to affect sustainability insurance policies all over the world. We assist public coverage initiatives to speed up carbon reporting, discount and removing, the transition to wash power, water entry and stress discount, and the power to measure, handle, and defend ecosystems. In 2022, we additional dedicated to shaping public coverage by releasing coverage briefs on carbon and electrical energy.
Carbon measurement and the Carbon Call
In February 2022, Microsoft, ClimateWorks Foundation, and over 20 main organizations launched an necessary new initiative known as the Carbon Call. The goal of this program is to unify the world round a carbon accounting system that’s extra dependable and interoperable. ClimateWorks Foundation is constructing this program to a world scale. The Carbon Call now has over 80 signatories, and launched its preliminary roadmap at COP27.
Climate Innovation Fund
We consider that innovation is a crucial part to fixing the local weather disaster, and that the funding of capital performs an necessary function in accelerating the provision of recent options. Microsoft is investing in accelerating local weather innovation by means of our $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund (CIF). We put money into modern applied sciences and enterprise fashions which have the potential for significant, measurable local weather impression by 2030. Since the founding of the CIF in 2020, Microsoft has allotted greater than $600 million into a world portfolio of greater than 50 investments, together with sustainable options in power, industrial, and pure techniques.
Africa knowledge lab
In November, we introduced an enlargement of our AI for Good Lab into Egypt and Kenya, constructing a brand new crew of information scientists on the bottom in Africa that may work to enhance local weather resilience. The work of those knowledge labs might be knowledgeable by a brand new Africa AI Innovation Council comprised of representatives from main African organizations.
Sustainability abilities
Delivering on the ambition of the Paris Agreement would require a world initiative targeted on the proliferation of sustainability abilities all through the labor market. In November 2022, Microsoft and BCG launched a brand new report, Closing the Sustainability Skills Gap: Helping Businesses Move from Pledges to Progress. This report reinforces the necessity for employers and governments to put money into upskilling the present workforce by means of studying initiatives targeted on sustainability information and abilities, to arrange the subsequent technology for sustainability jobs of the long run. Microsoft is working with companions to develop and share new sustainability studying supplies to speed up the event of the sustainability workforce of the long run.
A decade of innovation and decisive motion
As we glance towards 2030 – and past – we stay optimistic about our collective means to decarbonize the worldwide financial system whereas persevering with to develop and prosper as a world neighborhood. We will proceed investing in three key areas that may allow the size of sustainability options wanted to deal with the local weather disaster:
- Advancing AI options for larger local weather impression
- Accelerating the event of sustainability markets by means of funding
- Creating instruments that advance emissions measurement and compliance
This might be a decade of innovation and decisive motion, from increasing using AI to deal with sustainability to forging new private and non-private sector partnerships. To transfer from pledges to progress, we can’t be deterred by near-term challenges, and should stay targeted on growing modern new options and, in lots of instances, accelerating our actions. At Microsoft, we’re deeply dedicated to sustainability as an organization, as a know-how supplier, and as residents of planet Earth.