Carbon neutrality “right thing to do”, says Microsoft

International technology giant Microsoft has made a commitment to become carbon neutral across its operations by July 1st of this year. The brainchild of Bill Gates is already the third […]

International technology giant Microsoft has made a commitment to become carbon neutral across its operations by July 1st of this year. The brainchild of Bill Gates is already the third largest purchaser of green power in America, buying more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually.

Microsoft say going carbon neutral is important as their influence can affect smaller businesses to improve the way they run their companies too. Very much a moral decision, a company statement said: “It’s the right thing to do.”

To achieve its goals the company has created an ‘accountability model’ which will make every Microsoft business unit responsible for the carbon they generate. The model aims to create incentives for greater efficiency, increase purchases of renewable energy and improve their environmental impact.

The company are introducing an internal ‘carbon price’ to encourage their individual business arms to become more responsible for the costs of offsetting their emissions.

The company said incentivising parts of their business would make bigger changes: “The carbon price and charge-back model is designed to provide an economic incentive for business groups across Microsoft to reduce carbon emissions through efficiency measures and increased use of renewable energy.”

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