Tag: Sustainability

One of the biggest topics of discussion at COP26, the global climate conference held in November 2021, was how a lack of reliable and consistent measurement hampers progress on the path to Net Zero. I have been reflecting on this issue and, on this Earth Day, I would like to provide an update on how we are measuring energy and water use at our datacenters to improve sustainability across the Azure Cloud.

Today, we’re sharing an important update on how Microsoft, and our datacenters, are helping to solve our part of this measurement challenge.

While the environmental goals are similar, each industry has unique challenges in measuring its carbon emissions to build its sustainability strategy. It’s one of the key reasons we, together with ClimateWorks Foundation and 20 other leading organizations, launched the Carbon Call. It’s also why we developed Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, an Azure-based platform that allows organizations to combine disparate data sources into one place and help provide insights into how to improve their sustainability approaches.

You’ve told us just how important measuring energy and water consumption from our datacenters is in taking sustainability into account for commercial decisions. Below you will see, for the first time, our datacenter PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) and WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness) metrics. To address these capabilities, we set design goals—our theoretical estimates of the most efficient we can operate our datacenters—and ensure we have measurements of our actual efficiencies. These targets can vary between datacenter generations and usage; for instance, newer datacenter generations as well as datacenters operating at peak utilization are more efficient. We track these statistics at a global level and by our operating geographies—Americas, Asia Pacific, and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).

Understanding Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)

PUE is an industry metric that measures how efficiently a datacenter consumes and uses the energy that powers the datacenter, including the operation of systems like powering, cooling, and operating the servers, data networks and lights. The closer the PUE number is to “1,” the more efficient the use of energy.

While local environment and infrastructure can affect how PUE is calculated, there are also slight variations across providers. Here’s the simplest way to think about PUE.

We design and build our datacenters toward the optimum PUE figure. We can also predict, with a high degree of accuracy, that optimum PUE figure. As we constantly innovate, we factor these changes into our datacenter designs to get as close to “1” as feasible. Our newest generation of datacenters have a design PUE of 1.12 and, with each new generation, we strive to become even more efficient. In the chart below, the blue bars show our estimated, or designed, PUE figures, while the grey bars indicate our actual PUE figures. As you can see, in Asia Pacific our actual PUE is higher; that’s due in part to higher ambient temperatures in the region which necessitates additional cooling.

In almost every region, our actual operating PUE is more efficient than our designs.

Understanding Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE)

Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) is another key metric relating to the efficient and sustainable operations of our datacenters and is a crucial aspect as we work towards our commitment to be water positive by 2030.

WUE is calculated by dividing the number of liters of water used for humidification and cooling by the total annual amount of power (measured in kWh) needed to operate our datacenter IT equipment.

Like PUE, there are variables that can impact WUE—many of which relate to the location of the datacenter. Humid locations often have more atmospheric water, while arid locations have very little. Datacenters in colder parts of the world, like Sweden and Finland operate in naturally cooler environments so require less water for cooling. Our datacenter designs minimize water use. The chart below shows (in blue) our estimated or designed WUE figure, and in grey, our actual WUE figure. Again, Asia Pacific is higher due to higher ambient temperatures and as a result the need in some places for water-cooled chillers.

We continue to integrate our standards in water reduction technologies such as those in our Phoenix, Arizona datacenter where we use direct outside air most of the year to cool servers. We otherwise cool through direct evaporation that requires a fraction of the water compared to other, conventional water-based cooling systems such as water-cooled chillers.

Furthermore, by powering our datacenter with power from the Sun Streams 2 Solar Project owned by local partner, Longroad Energy, we’re displacing the water needed in the traditional electricity generation process and expect to save 356 million liters of water annually.

Scope 3 and supply chain

As we shared in March with our annual sustainability report, we made good progress on a number of our goals. Across the company’s operations, we saw an overall reduction in our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of about 17 percent year over year, through our purchasing of renewable energy. At the same time, we also saw a rise in our Scope 3 emissions, which increased about 23 percent year over year.

We know that Scope 3 emissions (representing the total emissions across a company’s entire value chain) are the most difficult to control and reduce, because we can often only influence change. We know this is a long-term effort and this year we have increased our focus on operational discipline that is rooted in reliable data. We’ve also been working with partners across the industry, including Infrastructure Masons on carbon transparency within the datacenter supply chain, and will have exciting news to share at the Datacloud Global Congress on April 25 to 27.

Learn more

We know just how crucial data transparency and consistency are in helping our customers make the correct choices for their business, and hope that today’s announcement on our PUE and WUE data will be an important step forward in informing decisions about their sustainability strategies.

To learn more about our datacenter operations and commitments in action today, you can visit:

As we observe Earth Day 2022, we know that protecting the planet is critical, and we are committed to creating a more sustainable future. For Microsoft, sustainability isn’t just an ambition — it’s part of our culture. Our commitments and actions on sustainability are far-reaching and are some of the most ambitious out there. Our goal isn’t just to become more sustainable though, we want to help every organization on the planet to do the same. Organizations around the world need to transition to a net zero, environmentally sustainable future in a short period of time, and our partners are leveraging the Microsoft cloud, Cloud for Sustainability, data and AI to build innovative applications, solutions and services to help customers transform their operations, products, services and supply chains, to facilitate their transition to net zero, and achieve their sustainability goals.

Partner innovations enable sustainability

Through the Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative we aim to accelerate innovation and collective impact with our partner ecosystem, helping to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together we can deliver solutions and services that are good for the planet, and good for business. For Earth Day, and every day, we are proud to celebrate some of our partners who are working to build a more sustainable future.

Optimizing technology for a more resilient future

Our partners offer a variety of Microsoft cloud solutions that empower customers to understand, minimize and manage environmental impact, gain operational efficiencies and achieve more responsible supply chain practices:

• The Awesense Digital Energy Platform is a data model-based framework that energy providers and solution builders can use to scale at the same pace as the rapidly growing energy grid, unlocking and combining energy and geospatial data to enable analytics and visualizations.

• The CadDo Calculate solution helps financial organizations augment financial performance with rigorous, investment-grade SDG metrics to inform investment decisions for improved sustainability.

• Earth Knowledge’s Foresight Platform is providing institutions with forward-looking planetary intelligence that helps companies mitigate future risk and guides investment decisions, bringing clarity to the economic risk of climate change and biodiversity loss.

• Honeywell Forge Predictive Maintenance is a cloud based solution that collects data from building assets and uses machine learning to understand how equipment is running against optimal performance in order to achieve better building performance and realize operating efficiencies.
• ICONICS Water Management solution provide insights to ensure water treatment and filtration happens exactly as planned. Customer benefits include energy and labor savings, leak detection, pollution reduction, government compliance and sustainability improvements.
• SAS worked with Wienerberger AG to develop and deploy a process optimization solution that uses analytics to reduce energy consumption and emissions in the production of bricks. It utilizes a data-based model to compensate for the large fluctuations that occur during the processing of raw materials used to create bricks.
• Uptake provides asset-intensive companies with the traceable, secure, cost-effective ability to connect their machines, people and data together to embrace their fiduciary duty and act in service of global sustainability.

Solutions from systems integrator and advisory partners enable business transformation

Our systems integrator and advisory partners are working with companies around the world, applying their deep industry expertise to deliver Microsoft Cloud-powered sustainability solutions and innovative services that help customers drive operational efficiencies, enable business transformation and achieve their sustainability goals:

• Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft are driving joint sustainability efforts including their pioneering role in the Green Software Foundation, a nonprofit that’s building a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling and practices to enable green software development. And, through Project Amplify, Accenture and Microsoft support dozens of startups that focus on driving social impact and sustainability by providing access to emerging technology and expertise to help them scale their solutions.
• Cognizant believes that technology can help businesses make informed decisions about ESG, lead the transition to lower carbon and build a more inclusive economy that will positively impact the environment. Cognizant and Microsoft collaborated to develop industry-leading solutions  on the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability including Connected Factory by APEX and OneFacility.
• EY is driving innovation with Microsoft in order to support clients with challenging ESG (Environmental, social and governance) issues including energy transition and decarbonization, stakeholder and risk management, ESG ratings management, regulatory compliance and external reporting. EY’s Microsoft Cloud solutions such as ESG IQ and the Decarbonization Platform, are focused on helping clients solve the new business challenges that ESG presents.

• Corey Glickman, VP Sustainability & Design at Infosys, and Jeff Kavanaugh, head of the Infosys Knowledge Institute, wrote “Infosys – The Practical Sustainability Book” to provide organizations with a practical approach to creating and connecting smart buildings and spaces that deliver proven results and can be replicated by others including global enterprises, small companies or government entities.
• Kyndryl believes that it is mission critical to be a leader who is providing climate change solutions, and they are working with employees, customers and partners to transform our world to net zero. For Kyndryl , the #heart of progress is to build a more sustainable world for today, and for future generations.
• New PwC solutions for smart stadiums utilize digital twins, IoT sensors and AI to promote a more modern, more rewarding experience for everyone entering a stadium or sports facility. These solutions provide a safer, healthier environment for both customers and staff by removing barriers and helping people get where they need to go faster, and behind the scenes, facility managers can realize reduce costs through centralized core functions, smarter resource planning and predictive analytics to monitor, predict and manage equipment status, waste removal and climate control.
• TCS Clever Energy is an enterprise energy and emission management system that helps commercial and industrial organizations be more sustainable, ensures energy and cost efficiencies, decrease carbon emissions, and achieve their carbon neutral goals. The solution accelerates customers’ journey towards neutrality by reducing energy and CO2 consumption by up to 15%, and typically produces a ROI within a year. Over the next five years, TCS expects that the Clever Energy solution will save the company and its customers more than $200 million dollars, and up to 170 tons of CO2 emissions.

Device and chip maker partners help drive sustainability from start to finish

Our hardware partners deliver innovative devices and demonstrate their commitment to the sustainability of our planet through the examination and optimization of their own operations and by sourcing renewable or ocean-bound plastics into their PCs.

• AMD has a proven track-record of prioritizing and delivering on environmental sustainability initiatives and performance backed by over 25 years of public reporting. AMD environmental programs and initiatives span across its value chain including operations, supply chain, manufacturing and products. The company has set ambitious goals through 2025/2030, focused on bold advancements in energy efficiency for accelerated computing applications, a science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal for operations (aligned with the international goal of trying to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius), and work with suppliers to increase efficient use of resources and renewable energy.
• Acer’s Earthion mission is to provide outstanding products that carefully consider environmental factors in every stage of the product life cycle, and since the launch of the Aspire Vero, based on the Earthion mission, Acer has expanded its Vero line of green products to include more notebook models, desktops, displays and accessories. And the Acer “Earthion” platform unites the strengths of its employees and supply chain partners to help tackle environmental challenges and expand the circle of impact of its sustainability efforts.
• ASUS reduces their environmental footprint by optimizing their packaging and shipping practices. A report found that only 5% of plastic packaging was effectively recycled, so ASUS uses cardboard cartons made of 85% to 90+% recycled paper. In the spirit of reduce, reuse and recycle, the accessory boxes are designed to be converted into laptop stands, and thoughtful consideration for packaging materials’ size, weight, and the way they’re stacked improves energy utilization, which indirectly reduces carbon emissions during transportation.
• Dell just launched a Global Recycling Drive, focused on reducing e-waste through recycling. Consumers in the U.S. can turn eligible devices into credit for their next purchase through Dell Trade-in, or take advantage of Dell Reconnect, a program operated in partnership with Goodwill Industries, to recycle any brand of used computer equipment. Globally, consumers can recycle their computer equipment with Dell’s mail-back program, and business customers can take advantage of Dell’s Asset Recovery Services to securely resell, recycle or return to lease their excess hardware in an environmentally conscious manner that complies with local regulatory guidelines.
• HP is committed to sustainability and has launched more than three hundred new products made with ocean-bound plastic since 2017. Through the company’s advances in technology and commitment to considering the entire lifecycle of its products, HP has diverted a massive amount of waste including 200.8 million pounds of recycled fiber, 61.6 million pounds of post-consumer recycled plastic and eight million pounds of recycled metals. The HP Dragonfly G3 and HP EliteBook 860 G9 commercial PCs are built with ocean-bound and post-consumer recycled plastics.
• On April 13, Intel committed to further reduce its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and to work with customers and industry partners to create solutions to lower the greenhouse gas footprint of the entire technology ecosystem. Intel committed to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its operations, (Scope 1 and 2 emissions, by 2040.) And, to support customer sustainability goals and reduce Scope 3 product-use greenhouse gas emissions, Intel will increase the energy efficiency of its products and continue to drive the performance improvements that the market demands.
• Lenovo is determined to create a better world, not only through the products, solutions and services they offer, but also in their commitment to implementing sustainable practices. Lenovo endorsed the U.N. CEO Water Mandate, and have implemented a water resiliency policy to manage and measure water consumption throughout their supply chain. In addition, Lenovo is focused on achieving their science-based 2030 commitments to reduce carbon emissions and is evaluating potential pathways to achieve net zero carbon consumption.
• Razer, which builds powerful gaming devices, has an ambitious 10-year road map called Go Green with Razer focused on using recyclable CNC milled aluminum, post-consumer recycled plastics, conflict-free minerals and raw materials in their device manufacturing process, and have pledged to use recycled or recyclable materials in all products by 2030. Customers are encouraged to return their old Razer products to stores for free recycling, and by 2025 Razer will enable consumer disposal and recycling of their products globally.
• Samsung is committed to developing innovative, high-performing products that have minimal impact on the environment, and the company continues to expand its use of renewable energy sources such as solar and geothermal heat in its facilities, and is incorporating use of recycled water and waste as well. They’ve replaced plastic and shrink wrap with packaging made of renewable biomaterials, and are expanding their closed-loop recycling system to recover and reuse more iron, copper and plastics from e-waste. Samsung has committed to achieve zero waste landfills at its mobile work sites by 2025 through initiatives like Galaxy Upcycling, Certified Re-Newed and Trade-In programs.

Giving new life to older devices through the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program

Reusing and recycling has always been important to Microsoft, and increased demand for PCs to meet work and learn-from-anywhere needs has made bringing old devices back to life critical. Millions of PCs and other electronics are being repurposed through the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program, in which partners decommission and refurbish PCs and servers and install the latest Windows software. In 2021, 4,855,068 Windows licenses were issued with refurbished computers, equaling enough electricity to power 1,441,524 houses each year. To help support digital inclusion, MAR partners provide the refurbished PCs to nonprofit organizations, businesses, schools and homes.

Working together to accelerate progress toward a more sustainable world

It will take all of us working together to drive the changes needed to ensure the future of the planet.

The first step is to understand impact, and the Emissions Impact Dashboard can help measure emissions related to Microsoft cloud services. Purchasing partner or Microsoft devices built with sustainability in mind can help people begin to reduce their environmental impact, and Microsoft Sustainable Partners can help organizations measure, model and manage their global operations at scale.

No matter where an organization is in the sustainability journey, our partners’ devices, solutions, and services can help organizations minimize environmental impact, deliver new value, accelerate business transformation and achieve sustainability goals. One company with ambitious commitments, together with an entire ecosystem of partners with ambitious goals, will make a difference around the world!

Let’s recommit to protecting our planet today and every day. This important work represents some of the greatest challenges and biggest opportunities of our lifetime, and the benefits will be tremendous! Learn more about how to advance sustainability initiatives at Microsoft.com/sustainability, and explore partner solutions featured in the Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative.

Tags: #BuildFor2030, Environment, OEM, partners, sustainability

Every year in the month of April, we celebrate Earth Day. Living in the Pacific Northwest, as the snow begins to melt and the landscape brightens, I reflect on what a privilege it is to live in such a beautiful place. The theme for this year’s global Earth Day is “Invest in Our Planet,” and I believe it represents such an important reminder for us all – to invest. So, when the time comes to celebrate the Earth and recognize the amazing progress Microsoft and our partners are making to reduce our carbon footprints, change business practices to be more environmentally responsible and create more sustainable products, I jump at the opportunity.

I’m so proud of the commitments our Microsoft device partners are making with sustainability. The innovation our partners bring to this important initiative is nothing short of remarkable. From devices made with sustainable materials to Earth-conscious manufacturing and shipping processes, it is exciting to see these investments really making a difference. Here are some great examples from our device partners:

Acer Aspire Vero

Acer kept sustainability top-of-mind in each decision that went into creating the Aspire Vero. The laptop uses 30% recycled plastic in the chassis and 50% recycled plastic on the keyboard caps, reducing C02 emissions by approximately 21%. In addition, no paint is used on the chassis’ surface. The Aspire Vero is also easily repairable and upgradable, a feature that allows for more longevity and keeps more laptops out of landfills. Features like Acer’s VeroSense software provide a usage mode that’s optimized for energy efficiency and battery life. The laptop is EPEAT Silver certified, meaning it meets a significant list of environmental criteria, and the 100% recyclable packaging earned it a 2021 Red Dot Award for Brand & Communication Design. The neutral grey cover and yellow pigment dots give it a unique and distinctly eco-friendly look. Beneath the Aspire Vero’s stylish exterior are powerful features including an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor with Intel Iris X^e graphics to power through daily productivity tasks. The 512GB of M.2 SSD storage gives plenty of space to store music and files, and you can watch videos clearly with the 15.6-inch FHD IPS display. And finally, for those of us working with less-than-ideal background noise levels, you can have your voice heard clearly on video calls with AI noise suppression.

ASUS ExpertBook B9

The ExpertBook B9 from ASUS is an exceptional work-from-anywhere device that ships to you with sustainability in mind. The lightweight but durable 1.94-pound device includes an Intel Core vPro i7 processor and gives you a long lasting battery that charges up to 60% in 45 minutes. A spill-resistant and backlit keyboard with ASUS NumberPad lets you work comfortably in a variety of environments, and you can both hear and be heard clearly in meetings with Harman Kardon speakers and ASUS noise-cancelling technology to eliminate background noise. ASUS reduces their environmental footprint by optimizing their packaging and shipping practices. A report found that only 5% of plastic packaging was effectively recycled so ASUS uses cardboard cartons made of 85% to over 90% recycled paper. To continue in the spirit of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, the accessory boxes are designed to be converted into laptop stands, extending the life cycle of the packaging. Thoughtful considerations for their packaging material’s size, weight and the way they’re stacked improve transportation energy utilization which indirectly reduces carbon emissions during transport. Learn more about their sustainable packaging practices.

Dell Latitude 5000

The Dell Latitude 5000 series is a business laptop and Dell’s most sustainable laptop yet – featuring several intentional sustainable design choices using recycled and renewable materials. Beginning with the base, the system is created with 20% reclaimed carbon fiber and new bio-based rubber feet that’s made from castor bean oil (39%), a renewable material that reduces reliance on petroleum-based materials. Then, to make an even larger sustainability impact, Dell focused on the second heaviest part of the device – the lid, using 71% recyclable and renewable materials including 21% tree-based bioplastic upcycled from the paper-making industry, 20% reclaimed carbon fiber and 30% post-consumer recycled plastic. This series also marks an important milestone in Dell’s use of ocean-bound plastics. To expand beyond Dell’s existing use in device packaging, the Latitude 5000 series also incorporates 28% ocean-bound plastics in the fan housing. The importance of sustainability for Dell extends beyond just the device itself, with the Latitude 5000 series featuring packaging made from 100% recycled or renewable materials – all of which is 100% recyclable. As Dell’s highest volume PC in production and sales, the Latitude 5000 series delivers that sustainable impact at scale.

Dynabook Satellite Pro C40-J

Dynabook’s Satellite Pro C40-J with Windows 11 Pro is a sleek and budget-friendly professional laptop with energy savings built into its design. It strikes the ideal balance of performance and portability with a 14-inch thin bezel display, a powerful 11^th Gen Intel Core processor, and all of the productivity tools, data protection and encryption measures that come with Windows 11. Dynabook’s efforts to produce products sustainably extends throughout their device’s life cycle from procurement to manufacturing, distribution, usage and disposal. They use their own solar power generation system to create their devices, and save on power consumption and CO2 by miniaturizing circuit boards and components. Their packaging is recyclable and the devices themselves are even designed to be easily taken apart and recycled at the end of their life cycle.

HP Elite Dragonfly G3

The responsibly made HP Elite Dragonfly G3 with Windows 11 Pro and a 12th Gen Intel processor was designed so that mobile professionals don’t have to compromise performance to have a positive environmental impact. This lightweight laptop was thoughtfully designed so that multiple components contain eco-friendly materials, including recycled magnesium in its cover, ocean-bound plastic in the speaker enclosure, and 50% recycled plastics in the keycaps. The outer box packaging is also 100% sustainably sourced. Enhanced by HP Presence, the device delivers a better way to collaborate with others during meetings. Users can be seen clearly with a 5MP camera with HP Auto Frame which keeps users in frame so they can break free from their desk, and with mask-wearing and hybrid work environments in mind, Dynamic Voice Leveling helps to optimize voice clarity.

Lenovo Yoga 6

The latest 7^th gen Lenovo Yoga 6 (13 inch, 7) with Windows 11 offers all the favorite features we’ve come to love from premium Yoga devices, plus some impressive measures crafted with sustainability in mind, making it a win-win for you and the planet. Designed for portability and premium entertainment, the specs include up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor, 13-inch Full HD 16:10 ratio touchscreen display for crisp picture quality and Dolby Vision, and two front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos for an impressive sound experience. It’s made with recycled materials, including a cover made from recycled aluminum or a fabric-wrapped cover option made with 50% recycled plastics. The Yoga 6 is also free of mercury and arsenic, and is brominated flame retardant (BFR) free, and comes ENERGY STAR and EPEAT Silver certified for meeting energy saving and environmental standards. Nearly 25% of Yoga 6’s battery cells use post-consumption plastic, and the laptop’s packaging is the “greenest” ever offered by Yoga, using sustainable paper packaging from responsibly managed and FSC certified forests.

Logitech MeetUp

To go along with these sustainably made laptops, the MeetUp Bundle for Microsoft Teams Rooms is Logitech’s compact, yet powerful premier ConferenceCam solution designed for small conference and huddle rooms. With 120-degree field-of-view, a 4K ultra high-def sensor, three beamforming mics and a custom-tuned speaker, your meetings will look and sound their best. Logitech’s industry-leading commitment to environmental sustainability is delivered through its actions in designing for sustainability, carbon labeling, increased recycled plastic use and other carbon neutrality efforts. MeetUp highlights this commitment with its 100% use of renewable energy in its manufacturing, and its carbon-neutral certification for the product and packaging. Logitech’s Climate Positive Approach has resulted in a 20% reduction of carbon per dollar of revenue since 2019 and that number continues to grow.

Panasonic TOUGHBOOK 55

The TOUGHBOOK 55 is a semi-rugged laptop designed to be used by first-line workers and first responders working in arduous and severe conditions. Its sustainability comes from its modular design that can be highly customized for the needs of its user, reducing waste and improving the ability for repairs and upgrades to the laptop. Its rugged build means it will stand up to heavy wear and tear and increase its longevity beyond a typical laptop. It reduces energy consumption with a long 19-hour battery life, reducing the number of charge cycles. The TOUGHBOOK 55 is a secured-core PC powered by Windows with several Intel processor options. Additional features include the ability to mount in a car for users like first responders and other mobile professionals who need a powerful device on-the-go, plus it supports three different touch modes, includes a backlit keyboard and has four microphones for unmatched speech recognition.

Go Green with RAZER

Razer, known for their powerful gaming devices like the recently launched Razer Blade series powered by the latest processors from AMD and Intel along with Windows 11, has committed to sustainability with their ambitious 10-year roadmap called Go Green with Razer. Beginning with their use of device materials like recyclable CNC milled aluminum and post-consumer recycled plastics, as well as only conflict-free minerals and raw materials in their manufacturing process, Razer has pledged to use recycled or recyclable materials in all products by 2030. Customers are encouraged to return their old Razer products to their stores for free-of-charge recycling, and by 2025 Razer will have enabled consumer disposal and recycling of their products globally. Their commitment extends beyond products into their office spaces, investments into sustainable startups, and the global community. And for fans of their popular sustainability mascot, Sneki Snek – for every Sneki Snek eco-merchandise sold, Razer contributes to Conservation International (CI) to save 10 trees. Razer has recently surpassed their original goal of saving 1 million trees, and has announced a new goal of 10 million trees. To date they’ve conserved over 600 acres of forests. Read more about Go Green with Razer.

Samsung: Galaxy Book2 series

Samsung’s brand-new Galaxy Book2 series advances Samsung’s ongoing commitment to minimize its environmental footprint and help Galaxy users adopt more sustainable lifestyles. The series, which includes the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360, Galaxy Book2 Pro and Galaxy Book2 360, includes all the powerful and beautifully designed features we’re used to seeing from Samsung. The PCs also feature Samsung’s recently announced eco-conscious material that repurposes ocean-bound plastics, such as discarded fishing nets, to reduce plastic waste in the ocean. The material is now featured in the touchpad holder and the inner bracket of the Galaxy Book2 Pro series, as well as parts in its Galaxy S22 and Tab S8 portfolio. The need to frequently replace laptop batteries is reduced by new innovative algorithms created to extend the battery lifecycles and lower standby power. The AMOLED display used on the Galaxy Book2 series not only provides a vibrant picture quality, but is GREENGUARD gold certified for eco-conscious products by the Underwriters Laboratories for minimizing VOC emissions for improved indoor air quality. All of Samsung’s PCs are Energy Star rated to help reduce energy usage and subsequent CO2 emissions, helping consumers avoid an estimated 270 million metric tons of CO2 emissions globally since 2009.

I feel so fortunate to work with these partners on such an important mission. As we begin this month, especially focused on sustainability and environmental responsibility, I am truly looking forward to seeing these materials and practices become widely adopted across our industry and am so proud to see our Microsoft device partners really lean in to make a difference for our planet.

One of today’s greatest global challenges is the impact of climate change, which is causing an increase in extreme weather events such as floods, fires, hurricanes, and droughts. In light of these threats to vulnerable communities worldwide, public sector organizations play a vital role in protecting lives and livelihoods, and mitigating the impact of climate change on people, communities, and the planet. Learn how to create a better future by harnessing the power of new and emerging technologies by watching the webinar, “Implementing Sustainability Strategies in Government.”

We in the tech industry are partnering with public sector organizations on that journey, which is why Microsoft made a commitment to be carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030, all while harnessing the power of digital technology to help other organizations meet their sustainability targets. Our focus on this ‘twin transition’ of a greener world driven by green technologies has led to milestones such as the launch of the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability last October, which helps a variety of industries to better record, report, and reduce carbon emissions.

Microsoft as a trusted partner

The road ahead for environmental sustainability relies on strong partnerships across the public and private sectors, non-profits, start-ups, and researchers. We continue to see the amazing ways these partnerships and digital technology are making the public sector prepared and resilient in the face of tomorrow’s challenges.

Our work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers is one example of the power of cloud, data, and AI to improve climate modeling and build preparedness for the impact of extreme weather on coastal communities. By enhancing storm modeling with the cloud, we are helping the United States government protect the lives and property of the most vulnerable communities around the country.

The power of digital is also in the way it enables data-informed policymaking. As part of our AI for Earth initiative, we are working with non-profits and the governments of Thailand and Costa Rica to help them stop illegal fishing. Cloud and AI algorithms are enabling those governments to monitor ship movements and protect fishing stocks, mitigating one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems.

Finally, we are supporting public sector organizations around the globe as they break down barriers to meet their environmental targets. The city of Gandía, Spain, for example, is using connected streetlights through the cloud that report energy consumption, which annually helps to lower energy consumption by 66 percent, improve citywide lighting, and cut over 2,700 tons of carbon emissions.

Microsoft’s road to net zero

These results are just a few of the many successes being driven worldwide by a shared commitment to sustainability. This month, we reported on our progress in 2021 and the work still to be done on the road to net zero. Over the past two fiscal years, Microsoft has allocated $571 million to accelerate our carbon, water, and waste goals.

The impact has been incredible and so far, we have:

• Removed 2.5 million tons of carbon.
• Signed power purchase agreements for roughly 5.8 gigawatts of renewable energy across 10 countries.
• Helped provide more than 95,000 people with access to safe water.
• Diverted over 15,200 metric tons of solid waste from landfills and incinerators.
• Helped protect over 17,000 acres of land.

We are just getting started, and there is so much more to accomplish toward our 2030 goals. We look forward to continuing that work alongside our public sector clients and partners, in honor of our shared vision for a healthy, sustainable, and safe world.

Listen to our recent on-demand webinar where you can learn how to create a better future by harnessing the power of new and emerging technologies.

Stay up to date on Microsoft’s global approach to government by visiting the Microsoft for Government website.

From wildfires to floods, the catastrophic impacts of climate change threaten to outpace our global ability to adapt, as the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has told us. This reinforces the importance of companies and people doing all they can to reduce their carbon emissions.

Microsoft has committed to becoming carbon negative—meaning, we will reduce our carbon emissions deeply and remove more carbon than we emit—by the year 2030. By 2050, our goal is to remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted since it was founded in 1975.

Evolution of our carbon fee

We’ve been working to reduce our carbon emissions since 2009, through energy efficiency, renewable electricity, and low-carbon transportation. Our efforts address all scopes of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Our direct emissions (scope 1), such as from company vehicles; our purchases of electricity (scope 2); and our indirect emissions from supply chain and product use (scope 3).

One of our key tools for reduction is an internal carbon fee—a way to accelerate decarbonization internally and generate funding for carbon reduction and removal efforts. Starting in 2012, our initial carbon fee focused on scope 1, scope 2, and business air travel. The proceeds from the fee provided funding for our carbon-neutral commitment at the time. In 2020 we began charging our internal business groups for all scope 3 emissions and, in parallel, worked with our suppliers to help them understand their carbon contributions and how to reduce them.

We track all our emissions across scopes: direct operations, electricity, procurement, supply chain, product energy use, plus categories such as business travel and employee commuting. We aggregate that information, and each year charge our business groups a certain amount in carbon fees. Determining how much is a balancing act, enough to encourage meaningful change.

None of this could be called easy. Our progress in reducing carbon output has not been a straight line. Plus, like any company, we seek to grow. We have seen revenue growth of as much as 22 percent, year over year, since 2018. While we are very proud of that, we’re cognizant of the fact that growth almost inevitability demands more energy usage.

Attend a webinar on our carbon fee

Now in 2022, we have redesigned and increased our carbon fee to accelerate scope 3 emissions reduction and match the underlying costs of carbon abatement. For example, the scope 3 business travel fee will increase to $100 per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent in our next fiscal year to better support the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel. And we will continue to increase the annual fee at an accelerated rate through FY30. Learn more by watching the on-demand webinar “Accelerated Sustainability with an Internal Carbon Fee.”  

In the webinar, you’ll learn more about the history of our carbon fee, how it works, how we measure scope 3 emissions, and more.

Partnering for climate progress

As a leading technology provider of sustainability solutions, Microsoft is supporting our customers and partners as they move toward a net-zero, environmentally sustainable future. In addition to sharing our experience implementing carbon-reduction projects, our carbon fee model serves as one example of how a large enterprise can reduce carbon output.

Read more about our progress and learnings on the journey to meeting our 2030 company commitments and find out how we are helping customers take their own path through our Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability solution.

The campus infrastructure team at the National University of Singapore was getting frustrated.

The team wanted to refresh the university’s aging buildings and create a smart campus with connected, automated systems and a cooler, more comfortable outdoor environment. But they couldn’t find a way to make the dozens of standalone systems in the university’s 260 buildings — from air conditioning to elevators and fire protection — communicate with each other. They consulted with several vendors and researched possible solutions, but the efforts had led nowhere. Then someone suggested talking with Microsoft.

Chew Chin Huat, the team’s senior director of campus operations and maintenance, was taken aback, but also intrigued.

“We use Microsoft as the computer software to do our work. We always think of Microsoft as a software company,” he says. “We never knew that Microsoft could be an integrator of operational technology systems.”

At Microsoft’s invitation, Chew and several team members toured the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington in July 2019 to get a look at its campus renovation and expansion project. Donning hard hats, they walked through older buildings, heard about the challenges and goals of the project, and toured revamped spaces on the 500-acre campus.

Microsoft, Chew realized, got it. It understood what the university was trying to do.

“We saw that Microsoft was going through the same problems we have — planning better use of old buildings, utilizing office spaces more efficiently without intruding into staff privacy, working with architects and engineers to upgrade old systems without creating new boundaries,” Chew says. “We were able to understand how Microsoft faced those challenges. In a way, I think we spoke the same language.”

That meeting led to a collaboration between the National University of Singapore (NUS), Microsoft and Johnson Controls, the leader in smart and sustainable buildings, which provides many of the university’s key building controls systems. The two companies are working with the university to help integrate its systems and create a more sustainable campus.

Microsoft and Johnson Controls recently launched a global partnership to provide their integrated digital twin technologies for designing and managing buildings and spaces. Digital twins are replicas of physical entities such as structures, systems and devices that use real-time data to provide actionable insights and inform planning.

In July, Johnson Controls launched its OpenBlue digital platform, a complete suite of connected solutions and services. Microsoft’s Azure Digital Twins is the newest Azure platform service integrated into Johnson Controls’ OpenBlue platform to enable the creation of next-generation IoT-connected solutions that will model the real world.

The platform enables customers to create a unified digital view of their buildings and systems so they can see what’s happening in real time, head off potential problems and create improved experiences.

Mike Ellis, executive vice president and chief customer and digital officer for Johnson Controls, says the company’s digital twin technology — part of the broader OpenBlue cloud-based platform that uses data for building management — was designed to help customers create more intelligent and efficient buildings.

“It enhances the ability to monitor and manage buildings in a new and unique way that provides better visibility, more real-time monitoring and modeling of how a building runs,” he says. “We are outcome-focused for our customers, and a focus on sustainability, safety, security and customer experience is core to what OpenBlue is all about.”

The buildings industry has always used standalone systems to operate buildings and has long needed a way to unify those systems and platforms, Ellis says.

“OpenBlue is the result of hearing from our customers loud and clear about the high value that could be delivered in creating a unified view of healthy buildings and the systems and technologies that can be harnessed to deliver extraordinary outcomes,” he says.

Johnson Controls, which is headquartered in Cork, Ireland, in September opened a lab at NUS focused on developing solutions for healthier, safer and more sustainable connected spaces. The OpenBlue Innovation Center is housed in the university’s School of Design and Environment net zero energy building and is expected to create customizable solutions that will be tested at the university.

“Our unprecedented focus of co-innovating cutting-edge technologies through collaboration with Microsoft and the NUS will spark greater innovation and true differentiation for our customers,” Ellis says.

“Our OpenBlue solutions, closely connected with Microsoft’s platform and workplace technologies, represent an unbeatable opportunity to help our customers make shared spaces safer, more agile and more sustainable.”

Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president for Cloud + AI, says Microsoft’s partnership with Johnson Controls will enable building owners to better operate and maximize buildings and spaces.

“We have an incredible opportunity to use advances in cloud and compute capabilities to help customers reimagine the physical world,” Guthrie says. “By integrating the power of Azure Digital Twins with JCI’s OpenBlue Digital Twin platform, our collaboration will provide customers with a digital replica and actionable insights to better meet their evolving needs.”

Digital twin technology can be used in buildings for anything from modeling energy usage to creating simulated scenarios and identifying potential emergency or security issues.

NUS, Chew says, sees digital twins as one of the potential planning tools in meeting its goals of becoming carbon neutral and reducing the outdoor temperature on the university campuses by 4 degrees Celsius (around 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2030. Singapore’s average temperature is around 80 degrees F and the island is heating up twice as fast as the world average over the past six decades, according to government data.

NUS has increased its focus on outdoor learning and promotes walking on campus to cut down on vehicle traffic, Chew says, but Singapore’s hot, humid climate can make being outside uncomfortable. The university’s plan for cooling its campus includes reducing the urban heat island effect through intensifying campus greening, special paint coating to cool buildings and pavements, revamping building exteriors to reduce solar load and reorienting buildings to allow breezes to flow through.

Microsoft and Johnson Controls’ integrated platform will be used to create simulations that can help determine how those measures will impact energy consumption and ambient temperature.

“We can’t do it by chance,” Chew says. “We’ve got to do it systematically by computer simulation. Once we’re satisfied, then we will start the physical work. Technology can help us accelerate our transition toward a carbon neutral and cool campus.”

Achieving NUS’ goal of carbon neutrality will also require reducing the university’s heavy reliance on air conditioning, Chew says. NUS is creating digital twins of its buildings and will be analyzing data to find ways of reducing energy consumption and making energy systems run more efficiently. The goal is to create intelligent spaces in buildings that can automatically power off when no one is around, he says, or use air conditioning only in areas that are occupied.

“This collaborative partnership will contribute to NUS’ ongoing efforts to enhance digital capabilities in our Smart, Sustainable and Safe (S3) campus endeavor and industry transformation in the built environment sector,” he says.

Digital twins have been used in the aerospace and manufacturing industries for years, but their application for buildings is relatively new. The technology requires new workforce skills, Chew says, and Microsoft and Johnson Controls have been training NUS graduates and employees to use their integrated platform. The university has started using Power BI, Microsoft’s data visualization platform, for predictive maintenance, and Microsoft is guiding the NUS team on how to use artificial intelligence for monitoring building systems.

Chew describes the collaboration as a true partnership, with both companies’ expertise aligning to support the NUS team’s 10-year vision for a more connected, data-driven and carbon-neutral campus.

“They’re not just selling a product. They’re not just guiding us to use a product,” he says. “They’re helping us to shape the industry as well.”

Top photo: The National University of Singapore’s Stephen Riady Centre. (Courtesy of NUS)

Singhal’s founding of Karo Sambhav is the result of a lifelong passion for environmental protection. He has a master’s degree from Sweden’s International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE). He was also trained by Thomas Lindhqvist who coined the principle of “extended producer responsibility” (EPR), which argues that producers must hold responsibility for what happens with products after consumers are done using them.

Singhal finds it fascinating that humans are the only species that generate waste. “We turn elements into compounds, components, and then products. But converting those products back into their elemental form—how do we create the second part of that product system?” He worked on this problem during his stint with Nokia in Finland, Singapore, and later India.

In 2012 the Indian government introduced new e-waste management rules that oblige companies that release products in the market to also collect those products back for recycling. Five years after that policy change, Singhal felt compelled to launch an outfit that could help producer organizations to go about this expectation transparently.

“Until and unless there was good clean implementation, the policy would die down, and the government would not apply the same principle to other product categories,” he says. Several global tech giants—driven both by a need to meet regulations in their own businesses and a desire to bring change at the grassroots in India—supported him, including Mi India, the country’s largest smartphone and smart TV brand.

Mi India partnered with Karo Sambhav to help its customers get their e-waste picked up from their homes or dropped it off at its stores across the country.

“At Mi India, we believe that our focus should not only be on responsible recycling, but also on awareness generation. Karo Sambhav is creating awareness with schools and bulk consumers of electronic waste through awareness events. They are working very closely with the informal sector and helping them embrace the formal sector and they have succeeded in doing it,” says Prateik Das, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Lead, Mi India.

“But they can’t do it alone. All stakeholders, including the government, brands, customers, dealers, informal sector, recyclers, and producer responsibility organizations (like Karo Sambhav) need to come together and build a self-sustained ecosystem. As per the current rule, the entire liability of collecting and recycling e-waste is on brands only and because of this, the end result is not always so impressive.”

When Microsoft announced its plan to build an underwater datacenter, Lathish Kumar Chaparala was excited.

“During the initial rollout of Project Natick, I used to log on to their website and watch the live feed of the underwater camera that was mounted on the datacenter,” says Chaparala, a senior program manager on the networking team in Core Services Engineering and Operations (CSEO), the engineering organization at Microsoft that builds and manages the products, processes, and services that Microsoft runs on.

Little did he know that he and his team would later be brought in to extend the network connectivity of this underwater datacenter so it could be safely fished out of the sea.

But the story begins much earlier than that.

We saw the potential benefit [of developing an underwater datacenter] to the industry and Microsoft. People responded to our work as if we were going to the moon. In our eyes, we were just fulfilling our charter—taking on challenging problems and coming up with a solution.

– Mike Shepperd, senior research and development engineer on the Microsoft Research team

The idea of an underwater datacenter came out of ThinkWeek, a Microsoft event where employees shared out-of-the-box ideas that they thought the company should pursue. One creative idea was put forth by employee Sean James, who proposed building an underwater datacenter powered by renewable ocean energy that would provide super-fast cloud services to crowded coastal populations.

His idea appealed to Norm Whitaker, who led special projects for Microsoft Research at the time.

Out of this, Project Natick was born.

“Norm’s team was responsible for making the impossible possible, so he started exploring the viability of an underwater datacenter that could be powered by renewable energy,” says Mike Shepperd, a senior research and development engineer on the Microsoft Research team who was brought on to support research on the feasibility of underwater datacenters.

It quickly became a Microsoft-wide effort that spanned engineering, research, and IT.

“We saw the potential benefit to the industry and Microsoft,” Shepperd says. “People responded to our work as if we were going to the moon. In our eyes, we were just fulfilling our charter—taking on challenging problems and coming up with solutions.”

Researchers on the project hypothesized that having a sealed container on the ocean floor with a low-humidity nitrogen environment and cold, stable temperatures would better protect the servers and increase reliability.

“Once you’re down 20 to 30 meters into the water, you’re out of the weather,” Shepperd says. “You could have a hurricane raging above you, and an underwater datacenter will be none the wiser.”

[Read about how Microsoft is reducing its carbon footprint by tracking its internal Microsoft Azure usage. Find out how CSEO is using a modern network infrastructure to drive transformation at Microsoft.]

Internal engineering team steps up

The Project Natick team partnered with networking and security teams in CSEO and Arista to create a secure wide-area network (WAN) connection from the underwater datacenter to the corporate network.

“We needed the connectivity that they provided to finish off our project in the right way,” Shepperd says. “We also needed that connectivity to support the actual decommissioning process, which was very challenging because we had deployed the datacenter in such a remote location.”

In the spring of 2018, they deployed a fully connected and secure datacenter 117 feet below sea level in the Orkney Islands, just off the coast of Scotland. After it was designed, set up, and gently lowered onto the seabed, the goal was to leave it untouched for two years. Chakri Thammineni, a network engineer in CSEO, supported these efforts.

“Project Natick was my first engagement after I joined Microsoft, and it was a great opportunity to collaborate with many folks to come up with a network solution,” Thammineni says.

Earlier this year, the experiment concluded without interruption. And yes, the team learned that placing a datacenter underwater is indeed a more sustainable and efficient way to bring the cloud to coastal areas, providing better datacenter responsiveness.

With the experiment ending, the team needed to recover the datacenter so it could analyze all the data collected during its time underwater.

That’s where Microsoft’s internal engineering teams came in.

“To make sure we didn’t lose any data, we needed to keep the datacenter connected to Microsoft’s corporate network during our extraction,” Shepperd says. “We accomplished this with a leased line dedicated to our use, one that we used to connect the datacenter with our Microsoft facility in London.”

The extraction also had to be timed just right for the same reasons.

“The seas in Orkney throw up waves that can be as much as 9 to 10 meters high for most of the year,” he says. “The team chose this location because of the extreme conditions, reasoning it was a good place to demonstrate the ability to deploy Natick datacenters just about anywhere.”

And then, like it has for so many other projects, COVID-19 forced the team to change its plans. In the process of coming up with a new datacenter recovery plan, the team realized that the corporate connectivity was being shut down at the end of May 2020 and couldn’t be extended.

“Ordering the gear would’ve taken two to three months, and we were on a much shorter timeline,” Chaparala says.

Shepperd called on the team in Core Platform Engineering, a division of CSEO, to quickly remodel the corporate connectivity from the Microsoft London facility to the Natick shore area, all while ensuring that the connection was secured.

The mission?

Ensure that servers were online until the datacenter could be retrieved from the water, all without additional hardware.

“My role was to make sure I understood the criticality of the request in terms of timeline, and to pull in the teams and expertise needed to keep the datacenter online until it was safely pulled out of the water,” Chaparala says.

The stakes were high, especially with the research that was on the line.

“If we lost connectivity and shut down the datacenter, it could have compromised the viability of the research we had done up until that point,” Shepperd says.

A seamless collaboration across Microsoft Research and IT

To solve this problem, the teams in Core Platform Engineering and Microsoft Research had to align their vision and workflows.

“Teams in IT might plan their work out for months or years in advance,” Shepperd says. “Our research is on a different timeline because we don’t know where technology will take us, so we needed to work together, and fast.”

Because they couldn’t bring any hardware to the datacenter site, Chaparala, Thammineni, and the Microsoft Research team needed to come up with a network redesign. This led to the implementation of software-based encryption using a virtual network operating system on Windows virtual machines.

It’s exciting to play a role in bringing the right engineers and program managers together for a common goal, especially so quickly. Once we had the right team, we knew there was nothing we couldn’t handle.

– Chakri Thammineni, a network engineer in Core Services Engineering and Operations

With this solution in tow, the team could extend the network connectivity from the Microsoft Docklands facility in London to the Natick datacenter off the coast of Scotland.

“Chakri and Lathish have consistently engaged with us to fill the gaps between what our research team knew and what these networking experts at Microsoft needed in order to take action on the needs of this project,” Shepperd says. “Without help from their teams, we would not have been able to deliver on our research goals as quickly and efficiently as we did.”

Lessons learned from the world’s second underwater datacenter

The research on Project Natick pays dividends in Microsoft’s future work, particularly around running more sustainable datacenters that could power Microsoft Azure cloud services.

“Whether a datacenter is on land or in water, the size and scale of Project Natick is a viable blueprint for datacenters of the future,” Shepperd says. “Instead of putting down acres of land for datacenters, our customers and competitors are all looking for ways to power their compute and to house storage in a more sustainable way.”

This experience taught Chaparala to assess the needs of his partner teams.

“We work with customers to understand their requirements and come up with objectives and key results that align,” Chaparala says.

Ultimately, Project Natick’s story is one of cross-disciplinary collaboration – and just in the nick of time.

“It’s exciting to play a role in bringing the right engineers and program managers together for a common goal, especially so quickly,” Chaparala says. “Once we had the right team, we knew there was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

Watch this video about Microsoft’s findings from Project Natick, the experimental undersea datacenter.

Learn how Microsoft rebuilt its VPN infrastructure.

Find out how CSEO is using a modern network infrastructure to drive transformation at Microsoft.

Tags: Azure Data and Storage, connectivity, datacenter, Microsoft Research, network, Project Natick, sustainability, underwater datacenter