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Microsoft's Climate Plan Has One Huge, Oil-Filled Hole


steven36

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On Thursday, Microsoft CEO Brad Smith made a bold climate pledge: By 2030, he said the company will remove more carbon from the environment than it emits, and by 2050, will remove more carbon than the company has ever produced.

 

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This is a big step up from Microsoft’s previous climate action plans. But it’s unclear what the plan will mean for the company’s contracts with oil and gas companies that are fueling the climate crisis. And as long as Microsoft keeps helping these firms, its commitment to carbon negativity isn’t nearly as big a deal as it sounds.

 

Smith said in his announcement that Microsoft will transition its own operations to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025, and shift its “global campus operations vehicle fleet” to electric by 2030. To provide transparency on their progress, it will also publish an annual Environmental Sustainability Report “based on strong global reporting standards.” The company has been “carbon neutral” since 2012, but organizers say Microsoft relied too heavily on buying renewable energy credits to offset their carbon emissions, instead of lowering them directly. This comes less than a year after the company made other climate pledges, albeit ones that were less-than-stellar. But overall, the new plan makes some big promises that are decidedly good.

 

The company also has plans to reduce the carbon emissions down the supply chain. But the plan doesn’t say anything specific about decarbonizing companies it supplies services to, specifically cloud computing. Microsoft holds multi-year deals to sell cloud services to Shell and Chevron, and is developing artificial intelligence technology with BP. In February, Microsoft announced a partnership with ExxonMobil that could expand the oil giant’s production by up to 50,000 barrels of oil a day by 2025 from the Permian Basin.

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“Teaming up with Exxon, BP, Chevron and others to extract more oil and gas is a major disconnect and makes the climate crisis worse” Greenpeace’s Senior Climate Campaigner Elizabeth Jardim said in a statement. “To truly become carbon negative, Microsoft must end its AI contracts with Big Oil.”

 

It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.

 

“The significance and complexity of the task ahead is incredible and will require contributions from every person and organization on the planet. That’s why we are committed to continuing to work with all our customers, including those in the oil and gas business, to help them meet today’s business demands while innovating together to achieve the business needs of a net zero carbon future,” Microsoft’s plan reads (emphasis added).

 

The company’s carbon negative goal will also rely on technology that doesn’t exist today. To that end, Microsoft said it will also create a $1 billion fund to speed up the development of carbon removal technology.

 

Carbon dioxide removal isn’t just something Microsoft is striving for. It’s also popular among big polluters. An alliance of 13 oil and gas majors pushed a carbon capture initiative in the fall. That follows a 2016 investment by 10 fossil fuel companies to put $1 billion into developing the technologies. And it makes sense that polluting industries want this technology to advance, because it would in theory allow them to become carbon-neutral without changing their business models.

 

Microsoft promotes themselves to the fossil fuel industry as a tool to help extract more oil and gas more quickly (they’ve even sponsored a conference that featured Caleb Rossiter, a member of the CO2 Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for putting more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere). And with $1 billion in carbon capture technology research on their side, they will likely continue to do so. There’s no harm in emitting greenhouse gases, the logic goes, if you can suck them out of the air afterward.

 

But the science shows we need to quickly phase out of extracting and using fossil fuels altogether. We don’t have time to wait for new technologies, which could take years to develop.

 

Earther has reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story with their response.

 

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Microsoft is not helping no one in the long run .  The way they became a trillion dollar outfit is from greed .   There company  can be anti-carbon , but as long as there a for profit organization and they  make a boat load of money  from those who pollute  the earth it's a oxymoron . There products helps big  oil  and every other kind bad thing  you can think of. That why  you can't really have morals and be a  Tech company at the same time having morals will cause you to go bankrupt. There climate  plain is just a bunch of  hot air,  because big oil , people who make gasoline  cars , plastics and all the other pollution  on the earth money  spend  just as good as people who are green thumb .  And the people who are killing the earth have the most money because they dont care.

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3 minutes ago, steven36 said:

... you can't really have morals and be a  Tech company at the same time having morals will cause you to go bankrupt...

Surely you are not suggesting that no one has morals in a technology company including its hard-working employees who are responsible for making it a profitable company (bring in the $$$s).  Or that a technology company that files for bankruptcy is full of moralistic people. 

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30 minutes ago, aum said:

Surely you are not suggesting that no one has morals in a technology company including its hard-working employees who are responsible for making it a profitable company (bring in the $$$s).  Or that a hard-working employees that files for bankruptcy is full of moralistic people. 

Employees morals  dont  reflect on what a company do . Speaking up about the wrong things your company does  will get you fired . None of the Big Tech companies  even have a union  to protect you . They dont really have any freedom of speech or much rights  and thats everyone  even the CEO if he believes different  then if the company contract holders  complain about him  action will be took against him . So you have no rights at work and if you represent the company  you  never have no rights to speak what you believe  in public ether. So everything is fake written to be politically correct,  if its not you will be looking for a new job. they don't really have  morals they have contracts and  if you piss off the people that hold them your gone. Places  i worked at  if they was a layoff management and trouble makers were always the 1st to go.

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Sorry that I can't relate to such unpleasant observations and/or experiences.  None of the places (all tech companies) I worked was as bad as this.  In fact all of them were good places to work.  And the employees and management at all levels were normal people as normal as anywhere.  Didn't come across any trouble makers.

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29 minutes ago, aum said:

Sorry that I can't relate to such unpleasant observations and/or experiences.  None of the places (all tech companies) I worked was as bad as this.  In fact all of them were good places to work.  And the employees and management at all levels were normal people as normal as anywhere.  Didn't come across any trouble makers.

The world we live in everyone is judging you by your actions . Many places monitor there workers on Facebook  if they see them say something  they dont like they get rid of them .  Satya Nadella's job was to turn Microsoft from being just a Windows company to a profitable business by any means . His job is not to have morals . You cant have them at work  and lay off 1000s of people like he done .  People complain  about contracts they hold for Ice (immigration ) and they said they going keep there contracts with ICE . Microsoft dont have morals  they only have contracts . those people who spoke up about Google and cause Google to cancel  and lose contracts all get fired for being trouble makers that why they change management to take control  back from there employees .

 

A job is what is what you make out of it ,  you can ether do your work  and leave your SJW  crap at home and there contracts alone and keep your job. Or you can be a trouble maker  and as soon as  they find a reason lose your job. Or you can quit and work for some place that have a real union if want real workers rights .

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My comments were vis-à-vis morality of technological companies.

 

Believe painting with too broad a brush diminishes credibility.

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1 hour ago, aum said:

My comments were vis-à-vis morality of technological companies.

 

Believe painting with too broad a brush diminishes credibility.

As far as i know no Tech companies have no moral credibility anyway . Many try to profit from your morals   . Microsoft sell products to businesses  regardless of what that company does  . They don't care only way they wont sell something to someone  is if the USA Goverment  forbids it .

 

Tech has no moral code. It is everyone’s job now to fight for one

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/25/tech-no-moral-code-racist-ads-cambridge-analytica-technology-ethical-deficit

 

Tech has no morals they never have ,Only thing that ever changed  there conduct  was Anti Trust (Being Fined) .  For better or worse any changes Microsoft made over years was because of Antitrust  cases against them in the past. It our job  as the people to elect the right people in there  and Anti Trust is  world wide that  there forced  to do better and be held accountable  . But the harder we fight the harder they will fight to get around it. As far as who they hold contracts with if they not a national security threat i doubt they even care .

 

It like they talk ethics but they hold multi billion contracts with the biggest war machines  in the world . Talk is cheap . actions speak louder than words. Most big tech outfits battle it out to own the contracts  for the Tech to have war with . It's 3 folds of  evil even , they  have contracts that enable companies to hurt the environment ,   they  have contracts that enable war . and they have contracts that help out  anti-imagination . There just  enablers,  That what Tech is to enable you to do something in a  Technical sense . Good and bad .

 

It's   always been like that it like IBM  there like the oldest Tech company in they played  both sides of World War 2  most of that money  they bought Red Hat with was that  old blood money they made  from the Nazis .

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/29/humanities.highereducation

 

 

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What we need to do is to stop looking at the negative and focus on the positive.  Microsoft is doing a good thing.  We need to choose our battles.  Microsoft has actually been carbon-negative since 2012.  The more companies adopt the same measures as MS the less oil we will need.  Technology is catching up, and the environment will get better.  Already coal is almost a done deal.  Natural gas, which produces only carbon dioxide and water is prevalent in the electricity generation business, and other forms of power generation are becoming better and better.  Maintaining an objective eye towards this whole process is paramount.

 

Just as a side-note, MS did not become a trillion  dollar  company due to greed.  It became a trillion dollar company because people buy their products.  I do not understand this thought process that promotes the "American Dream" of success until one succeeds.  Then the same thought process is that when success is achieved that thought process is to hate.  Once again, choose your battles carefully, and congratulate where it is due. 

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23 minutes ago, dhjohns said:

What we need to do is to stop looking at the negative and focus on the positive.  Microsoft is doing a good thing.  We need to choose our battles.  Microsoft has actually been carbon-negative since 2012.  The more companies adopt the same measures as MS the less oil we will need.  Technology is catching up, and the environment will get better.  Already coal is almost a done deal.  Natural gas, which produces only carbon dioxide and water is prevalent in the electricity generation business, and other forms of power generation are becoming better and better.  Maintaining an objective eye towards this whole process is paramount.

Looking at only the positive  when the negative outshines the positive  the point is moot fanboy . when they causing good  with one hand and bad with the other  they need to  cut one of them off. You can not serve two masters, you will hate one and love  the other. And  there master is money and they love it more  than  ethics  like all Tech have always done . They will sell you something to defeat your enemy and turn right around and sell   your enemy something to defeat you.

 

If your defending the bad things they do because of the few good things they do,  your  ethics is tainted just like theirs is.:hehe:

 

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32 minutes ago, aum said:

Unnecessary!

 its  not your  job to  correct  what  i  say ,  you need to read the guidelines, I dont mean nothing by calling people  fanboys we all fans of something i dont see it as a bad thing  . Only reason  you would take it as  bad is if you was ashamed of being one. I dont have nothing against Microsoft but them preaching  ethics and not practicing what they preach the SJW movement out there will eat them alive. I just play devil's advocate because  i hold no allegiance to any Tech company.

 

I don't use Microsoft products so what ever SJW  say about them wouldnt effect me. But SJW  have attack Linux many  times back  in 2019  and Linux  made rules  to fix it and  open source made  one guy step down  and I stayed  out of it  and  i  did not get in the middle of it or make up excuses  for there  bad actions.

 

My source is from a web site with progressive views that align with  SJW even  i dont care as much  as much they do because  i more to the center than that .

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20 hours ago, steven36 said:

its  not your  job to  correct  what  i  say ,

Not even remotely interesting in such a total waste-of-time job (task)*.

 

"Unnecessary" was a comment

 

Why try to correct others?: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”  --Leo Tolstoy"

 

Also:

 

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1 hour ago, aum said:

Not even remotely interesting is such a total waste-of-time task.

 

"Unnecessary" is a comment. 

Telling people things are Unnecessary when you not even being spoken  too is mini modding ( thats something a mod would say ) and  it was not meant to be  interesting it was meant to be a warning it means you have no more authority than me and if you keep telling me what to do i will report you and i have lot  to say about you to them anyway that i just not got around to telling them yet  So it would be in your best interest to leave me alone . If  you think  what I  say is a waste of  time dont bother responding to me i never ask you too Normally  when someone says something that i find not interesting i dont bother responding . .:dance2:

 

PS: Silly off topic  quotes  and post was  and  talking to me too much was bad habits you  had with your past  lives on here? It a wonder your not using your flowers smiley too.  I know who you are even before you got brave enough to start showing your  :moon: again . This is  not my 1st run in with you on this site and it got old 2 years ago. I guess you think they forgot about what trouble you caused. But people never really forget.

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56 minutes ago, steven36 said:

If  you think  what I  say is a waste of  time

I did not say that.

 

I said, "Not even remotely interest[ed] (interesting was a typo) in such a total waste-of-time job (task)* in response to "its  not your  job to  correct  what  i  say".

 

Where did I say that "what you say is a waste of time"?

 

A job (task) of correcting what others say is a waste of time.

 

The meaning of words is not in the black and white figures they make on a screen nor it's in the eye that sees the words but it's in the mind of the reader.

 

Please feel free to satisfy yourself in any which way you like (ref: reporting etc).  No problem.

 

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1 hour ago, aum said:

Please feel free to satisfy yourself in any which way you like (ref: reporting etc).  No problem.

 

I already did  just fine without your help , you give a monkey enough rope they always hang themselves , i reported you and im  done talking to you.

 

@adi when i talked you in the past we never got along  and im tired of history repeating itself on here . Your not the 1st member who been ban many times and kept coming back just to be banned more,  and it most likely want be your last ban  and you want most likely be the  last person that keeps coming back and never learning there lesson . I's sad because i think this site must be all you have because i would not come back after one ban. let alone two or three .

 

And like i told  the others ban ones who trolled me  back in 2015 . Ban members dont have no rights  or even should be in the comments there ghost  that got around the rules. Ban members are part of this sites past problems and some  keep coming back adding more.  Maybe 1 out of 10 that come back behave . you lasted almost a year this time but now your off the hook again. Under  your 2nd  account you only lasted a year.  You really should stop drinking .   Your not new here you been a vet and vip  so you know the  rules but  you never have followed them because if you  did you would  still be a vet. It not my fault  you have problems  with this site so stop targeting me with your post baiting  . It's trolling because you go on and on if anyone talks back  and always try to get the post closed  or the last word in .

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Right i can see whats going on here @aum don't worry i no you are a returning banned member and yes i am back good news for  you hey...You have been reported as i always say it don't take long for true colors to shine through..

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5 hours ago, steven36 said:

If your defending the bad things they do because of the few good things they do,  your  ethics is tainted just like theirs is.:hehe:

Oh but I am not.  You see the word Microsoft and immediately you get a bug up your butt!  🤣  But please, list out the "bad things they do." Enquiring minds want to know.  And please, leave out the conspiracy theories.  Just stick to facts. Okay?

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4 hours ago, dhjohns said:

Oh but I am not.  You see the word Microsoft and immediately you get a bug up your butt!  🤣  But please, list out the "bad things they do." Enquiring minds want to know.  And please, leave out the conspiracy theories.  Just stick to facts. Okay?

It's the internet were it  don't matter if  people have facts or not . When has that ever mattered  ? How many Anti trust cases have Microsoft walked  away from not had to pay and/or cut deals ? Not many. The biggest problem with Microsoft in 2020  is what thy dont do no more and thats appeal  to consumers . That how they kept nose clean this time they only make software that only  some Enterprise would wont since they made Windows 7 2011 they not sell many boxes to consumers . If they did i would still be using windows . Only consumers left on windows are PC gamers and Tech dinosaurs . The desktop is used  for a tool for production  people live  on smartphones and use it for consumption . Windows done out live it usefulness at home .

Windows never had 4 billion users  like Facebook  does . There MSN  is abandonware  and soon Skype will be too and they will only have Teams  that only business use . Consumers  dont buy devices just for the  voice assistant by Microsoft like they do others its a dead project . They don't have all the billions of users Like google does ether  to even matter. in the USA more users on IOS  now than Windows now,  that proves consumers will buy it if they made something they wanted. .Nobody uses Bing Search   If nobody at home uses your stuff there not much they can sue you over . They depend on contracts from  Enterprise thats all they have left other than XBox  .the IT jargon they talk about Consumers  would rather watch paint dry than  listen to it .  Punishment  on big tech is based on scandals not facts when they dont have access to most of the worlds data  to collect like the others because they dont use there stuff.  there is no scandals.  Just like IBM people use to use there stuff at home but not in ages  . People done wised  up they dont want to work behind a PC all day and come home and be tied  down behind one . It not convenient enough for  them  .

Microsoft  is lucky to get  in the general news at all it's niche . If it was not about  them being in bed with big oil they would not made the general news now. Scandals true or not hurt Big tech worse than facts do. There no fact seeking with Microsoft  or the rest of big tech they masters at covering up the facts and marketing  for there niches .. the only scandals Microsoft have anymore is viruses ,0days , botched and being in bed with other outfits the public don't like . People got tired of Windows 10 scandals  in 2015  because Windows  lost its market lead to smartphones . But all that bad press effected them dearly  because before they made Windows 10 they always had more users than smartphones. They dont deal  in facts they deal in selling you a pipe dream most of them  since they made the iPhone  has been DOA if it's not to do with Enterprise .

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