Microsoft is going carbon neutral

Microsoft has pledged to help protect the environment by reducing its carbon footprint.

As of today, Microsoft will implement a carbon management plan that aims to accomplish their goal to become carbon neutral by the end of fiscal year 2013

The announcement was made by their CEO Kevin Turner on the company's blog and was later formally presented in the Rio+20 business forum. According to Turner, “working on the issues of energy use and environmental change provides another opportunity to make a difference in the world. It’s the right thing to do.”

To accomplish this, Microsoft will implement three strategic pillars: Be lean (be more energy efficient by reducing air travel and controlling energy use in their buildings), be green (purchase more renewable energy and reduce waste and water use) , and be accountable (set an internal price on carbon, measure emissions, and charge a carbon fee to the teams responsible for those emissions)¹.

Microsoft is not the first company to make a commitment to be carbon neutral. Two other notable companies with a carbon neutral commitment are HSBC and News Corporation. Both have achieved this through the purchase of carbon offsets. It also isn't the first giant tech company trying to reduce their environmental footprint. Google and Facebook have also implemented different strategies to “cleantheir cloud”. What makes Microsoft’s approach different is that it places the cost to reduce carbon emissions on each of its business units.

Introducing an internal carbon price motivates each unit to find cheaper and alternate ways to cut their carbon emissions rather than purchase carbon offsets. In other words, Microsoft is internalizing and taking responsibility for its environmental externalities. The money will go towards a global pot that will be used to purchase carbon credits or renewable energy credits; thus, making Microsoft carbon neutral.

For now, the initiative has inspired admiration and acceptance among environmentalist and the general public. Only time will tell if they accomplished their goal and what influence it will have on the industry.

Finally, I would like to leave you with Bill Gates' 2010 TED talk on climate change and renewable energy.