2020 Environmental Sustainability Report
Explore our progress to become a carbon negative, water positive, zero waste company while also building a Planetary Computer.
Carbon
We intend to be carbon negative by 2030 and remove from the environment the equivalent of all the carbon the company has emitted since its founding by 2050. We’ve started by reducing our footprint, investing in carbon removal, and making new partnerships to accelerate decarbonization everywhere. Already, we have procured 1.3 million metric tons of carbon removal.
“We believe that by focusing on all the ways we can drive change we can make an outsized impact on climate change. We need to pull all levers of influence we have.”
Brad Smith, President
Water
We are setting our roadmap to become water positive by 2030. Microsoft is taking responsibility for our own water use, increasing replenishment, and developing technology to help others do the same. As part of this work, we have already funded nearly twenty water replenishment projects in the process.
Waste
We intend to be zero waste across our direct footprint by 2030. With 60,000 metric tons of waste diverted from landfills over the last fiscal year, we’re reducing waste and improving packaging while launching new approaches, such as Circular Centers, and accelerating progress with technology.
“The fight against climate change is one we cannot afford to lose. As we enter 2021, we are more convinced than ever that Microsoft, and the rest of the world, is up to the task.”
Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer
Ecosystems
We are working to protect more land than we use by 2025 and are building a Planetary Computer. With 10 petabytes of environmental data now available, the Planetary Computer provides access to critical environmental datasets and AI.
Our commitment to sustainability
We’re building sustainability into everything we do, including our operations, products, and programs.
Empowering our customers
We are developing and delivering sustainable solutions, tools, and resources to help our customers accelerate their sustainability progress.
Simplifying sustainability
We want to make it easier for people to understand our work and the challenges ahead using videos, data visualizations, and blog posts on carbon, water, waste, and ecosystems.
