Overview Carbon Water Waste Ecosystems Appendix 4 Foreword Over the past year, we built on this pledge by “ We believe that by Microsoft can’t solve the world’s environmental Letter from announcing a series of commitments to be water challenges alone, but we can play a significant role in positive by 2030, zero waste by 2030, and to protect focusing on all the ways driving a broader societal transformation if we use our ecosystems by developing a Planetary Computer. we can drive change, we positions of influence and our technologies to effectively Brad Smith When we set out on our carbon negative journey a can make an outsized bring others along with us on our sustainability journey. year ago, we knew the climate crisis was urgent and 3. What should we do? required immediate attention. No one had yet realized impact on climate change. This is what we focused most on in 2020. It required In January 2020 we announced that the world would be facing a global pandemic and building a new sustainability vision and strategy for a bold commitment and detailed long-term shutdown just a few months later. Over the We, and other organizations Microsoft through a series of industry-leading past year, we’ve addressed both. COVID-19 is the crisis who are serious about commitments to be a carbon negative, water positive, plan to be carbon negative of the year, addressing climate change is the crisis of zero waste company by 2030, and to develop a new by 2030 and to remove from the decade. an environmentally Planetary Computer to better monitor, model, the environment all the carbon We grounded our sustainability strategy and sustainable future, and manage the world’s ecosystems. We’re making a the company emitted since its commitments in the belief that technology can help bold bet to address climate change and the world solve the world’s biggest challenges. We began by need to pull all levers will need to too. To help do that, we want to founding by 2050. asking three simple questions: of influence we have.” become the world’s leading technology provider 1. Are we doing enough? of sustainable solutions. The answer was simple: No. Microsoft has focused Brad Smith, President 2020 Report on sustainability for more than a decade, and we are In Microsoft’s first annual sustainability report, proud of our achievements. But those of us who can we look back at how and why we made our afford to move faster and go further should do so. commitments, details about them, Using technology, we can do just that, including progress to date, and key lessons we minimizing the environmental impact of our own have learned. We intend to not only operations and ensuring the resilience of our share our successes, but also share infrastructure to climate change. Importantly, we can our challenges. That is why, in each extend beyond our walls to help build the broader section, we’ve also included solutions the world requires. additional information and resources 2. Can we make a difference? to help others accelerate their progress towards a prosperous, just, We believe that by focusing on all the ways we can drive and environmentally stable future. change, we can make an outsized impact on climate 2050 change. We, and other organizations that are serious Microsoft will remove from about an environmentally sustainable future, need to the environment all the pull all levers of influence we have—our operations and carbon the company has Brad Smith, President as a customer, supplier, investor, employer, policy emitted since its founding advocate, and partner in innovation to customers, by 2050. organizations, and institutions around the world.