This is bigger than all of us: why Microsoft is signing The Climate Pledge

Nearly a year ago, Microsoft announced an ambitious commitment: to become carbon negative by 2030 and remove more carbon than we directly emitted since our founding from the environment by 2050. Since then, we’ve continued to build on our sustainability work by adding commitments to become water positive, zero waste, and to protect more land than we use by 2030. 

As a technology company we feel a particular sense of responsibility because we know that one of the biggest opportunities for organizations of all kinds to reduce their environmental impacts will be the adoption of digital innovations. At Microsoft we want to be the trusted technology partner to help these organizations solve their sustainability challenges. But for that to happen it is critical that the entire private sector makes the climate crisis a priority.

That’s why, today, Microsoft is signing The Climate Pledge – a commitment to meet Paris Agreement targets 10 years early, by 2040, through comprehensive and measurable interventions on emissions. The pledge fits within Microsoft’s own bold commitments. We’re adding our voice to encourage others to make their own climate commitments, and in doing so, demonstrating that companies from diverse sectors, including direct competitors, can collaborate in tackling climate change. 

Because it will take multiple solutions to solve the climate crisis, Microsoft is working with many organizations on environmental issues. By combining our voice with The Climate Pledge member companies and our partners in the WeMeanBusiness coalition, we can spur broader engagement on climate action.

We also want to enable businesses to go from setting commitments to achieving them, enabled through our work with the Transform to Net Zero coalition, a group of leading companies committed to helping organizations achieve a net-zero carbon future through the production of templates and roadmaps that companies can follow to drive carbon to zero. As a contribution to that coalition, Microsoft, in partnership with PwC, published a framework of the Building Blocks for Net Zero Transformation. The first step? Make sustainability a priority and create climate commitments that are aligned with the high level of ambition our future requires.

The good news is that many companies have done just that. Since we announced our carbon negative commitment, the number of companies worldwide setting net-zero targets has nearly doubled. But most companies have yet to make net-zero commitments, and time is running out to significantly grow the number of corporate climate commitments.

What’s needed is for everybody to work together to build the enabling conditions for climate solutions. Driving change must be an inclusive undertaking. That means as many companies as possible creating a plan and committing to actions needed to hit net zero. The Climate Pledge provides a framework and will help companies around the world take that first step to scale up their climate commitments.

With today’s pledge, we are striving to make a difference at pace and at scale. We will continue to innovate, to invest in green technology, and to build on our climate ambition. And we will continue to work with organizations of all kinds to advance this work, because no one can do it alone.