Microsoft to invest $1bn in carbon-reduction technology – The National

Microsoft to invest $1bn in carbon-reduction technology – The National

Microsoft unveiled plans to invest $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) to back organisations working on technologies to remove or reduce carbon from the earth's atmosphere, saying efforts to merely emit less carbon aren't enough to prevent catastrophic climate change.. The company's Climate Innovation Fund will provide money over the next four years for equity investments, debt financing and other support for the development of carbon-removal technology.. The fund won't be used for Microsoft's philanthropic efforts on climate, although those will continue separately.. The software maker is also pledging to be "carbon negative", meaning it will remove more carbon than it emits, by 2030.. It's not clear what efforts or companies Microsoft will back - it will now start to consider options for deploying the fund.. But there are various ideas and efforts already under development.. Switzerland's Climeworks, for example, employs a reusable membrane to capture carbon dioxide pulled through machinery by fans.. Two decades after the, the software maker said it will have removed from the environment all the carbon it has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since its founding in 1975.. Starting next year, Microsoft will make carbon reduction part of its procurement deals.. At Microsoft, that indirect category