‘It’s critical’: can Microsoft make good on its climate ambitions?

The company has set an example in the fight against carbon - but it retains ties to obstructionist groups

When the UN's landmark climate report was released in 2018, calling for urgent and unprecedented changes, Microsoft executives were told to commit it to memory", said Elizabeth Willmott, who leads the company's carbon program. And so we did."

The report warned the world must reach net-zero emissions by 2050 in order to avert catastrophic climate change. To achieve this, not only must the emissions released by countries and companies be dramatically curtailed, but billions of tons of carbon dioxide must be sucked out of the atmosphere.