Tag: Microsoft

Lack of investments in impact industry threatens progress on Sustainable Development Goals

Stuart Mitchell

For the fourth year in a row, venture capital (VC) investment into global impact startups is in decline. Impact startups haveraised $33B in 2024 so far, a projected 28% drop from the previous year. A much stronger drop than the general global VC capital decline of 4% during the same period. This alarming fact is the main takeaway from the State of Impact 2024 report, presented this week in The Hague at ImpactFest by ImpactCity, Dealroom, and Microsoft. This steady decline in impact investments is especially worrying since none of…

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UNDO Signs Follow-On Carbon Removal Deal with Microsoft, Accelerating Enhanced Rock Weathering Science

Stuart Mitchell

UNDO, a leading carbon dioxide removal project developer, has signed a deal with Microsoft to advance enhanced rock weathering (ERW) carbon removal science.  The award will remove 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide funding for crucial scientific research in the ERW field. It will also contribute to Microsoft’s commitment to be carbon-negative by 2030. UNDO’s commercial relationship with Microsoft began in 2023 with a contract to remove 5,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere. This announcement reflects a much larger deal that will see UNDO spread…

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Howden launches the Resilience Laboratory supported by Microsoft to measure and evaluate climate risk

Stuart Mitchell

Howden, the international insurance intermediary group, has launched the Howden Resilience Laboratory, a platform designed to transform how clients evaluate and manage climate risks. The Laboratory uses Microsoft technology to provide innovative, data-driven solutions for client challenges associated with the impacts of climate change. Developed by Howden and powered by Microsoft’s cloud services – Azure, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 – the Resilience Laboratory enables clients to model climate scenarios and assess financial impacts. By transforming large volumes of complex data – environmental, societal and financial – into actionable insights,…

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AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Schneider Electric Call for Supplier Action to Help Decarbonize Digital Infrastructure

Stuart Mitchell

The Governing Body of the iMasons Climate Accord, a program of Infrastructure Masons, is calling on all suppliers serving data centers to support greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions as part of broader efforts to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. Consisting of AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Schneider Electric, the Governing Body released an open letter today that explains the importance of widespread adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are standardized, third-party-verified documents reporting the embodied emissions of a product. EPDs outline the greenhouse gas emissions of…

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Ørsted enters into new major agreement on carbon removal with Microsoft

Stuart Mitchell

In a landmark deal, Ørsted will sell a further one million tonnes of carbon removal over a ten-year period to Microsoft from Avedøre Power Station, which is part of the bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project ‘Ørsted Kalundborg CO2 Hub’. This new agreement builds on an existing commitment by Microsoft to buy 2.67 million tonnes from Asnæs Power Station, bringing the total purchase under contract to 3.67 million tonnes of CO2. As part of the ‘Ørsted Kalundborg CO2 Hub’, Ørsted will establish carbon capture at its wood chip-fired Asnæs…

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