Tag: Microsoft

Global impact investing grows long term but faces a funding slowdown in 2025

Stuart Mitchell

Compared to a decade ago, venture capital (VC) funding into global impact startups has grown 300%. But for the fifth year in a row, VC investment is in decline. Impact startups have raised $33B in 2025 so far, a projected 24% drop from the previous year. Rising geopolitical tensions, scarcer resources, and volatile prices have shifted the focus of funding from a long-term transformation agenda centred around the Sustainable Development Goals to renewed goals of national security, resilience and independence. This shift is the main takeaway from the State of…

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Stegra announces agreement with Microsoft, driving demand for near-zero emission steel

Stuart Mitchell

Stegra has entered into two new agreements with Microsoft. One is for the supply of steel with near-zero emissions to be used in Microsoft’s datacenters. In addition to the agreement for physical green steel, the companies have also entered into an agreement for the purchase of environmental attribute certificates tied to production from Stegra’s manufacturing facility in Boden, Sweden. This agreement is the first-of-its-kind in the steel industry designed to help drive global demand for green steel. After investing in Stegra in 2023 through its Climate Innovation Fund, Microsoft is…

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Fidelis’ AtmosClear signs agreement with Microsoft for high-quality carbon removal from project in Louisiana

Stuart Mitchell

AtmosClear BR, a portfolio company of Fidelis, announced that it has signed a contract with Microsoft for 6.75 million metric tons of engineered carbon removal over 15 years from bioenergy carbon capture & storage (“BECCS”). The deal is the world’s largest for permanent carbon removal to date. AtmosClear is developing a carbon capture facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge in Louisiana. The plant will use sustainable materials like sugarcane bagasse and trimmings from prudent forest management to produce clean energy while capturing 680,000 metric tons of biogenic carbon…

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Microsoft and FieldFactors partner to harness stormwater in Madrid

Stuart Mitchell

Microsoft is collaborating with Dutch start-up FieldFactors to replenish a natural stream using rainwater collected from a major new urban development. Called Solana de Valdebebas, the development covers more than one million square meters and will include almost 1,400 residential units. The initiative has the capacity to capture up to 200 million liters of stormwater run-off annually, which will be replenished into the local Valdebebas stream, a tributary of the Jarama River. Rainwater will be collected through FieldFactors’ sustainable drainage system, called BlueBloqs, which can capture up to 95% of…

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Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling

Stuart Mitchell

This summer, Microsoft released their Datacenter Community Pledge, detailing their commitment to the local economies and communities in which we operate our datacenters. Protecting local watersheds is an important part of this pledge—especially in areas where water stress is growing.   Beginning in August 2024, Microsoft launched a new datacenter design that optimizes AI workloads and consumes zero water for cooling. By adopting chip-level cooling solutions, we can deliver precise temperature control without water evaporation. While water is still used for administrative purposes like restrooms and kitchens, this design will avoid…

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