#climateplans

The climate crisis has been a hot topic environmental issue. Many companies and governments are seeking out ways to reduce their impact and to find solutions for generating business while being environmentally conscious.

Many major corporations are taking aim at reducing their impact on climate change. A majority of companies are making carbon-neutral commitments. These commitments aim to reduce carbon emissions and achieve zero carbon footprints. One of the biggest corporations, Microsoft,  proposed a potential climate crisis plan. Their goal is to be "carbon negative", which means that they will remove the carbon that the company has produced since 1975. Although this sounds like an amazing idea, the question is, will this plan actually work? 

Their plan aims to take many factors into consideration when it comes to climate change. These factors include, "emissions produced by its entire supply chain, including the full lifespan of the products it makes and the electricity that customers may consume when using its products." Part of their plan is to utilize biomass energy and to plant more trees to capture carbon to offset the emissions in places like the Amazon, which is known for massive deforestation. This includes measuring the amount of carbon that can actually be captured. One experimental technology that Microsoft is working on is called Direct Air Capture, which involves machines converting carbon to non-harmful solids or gasses. But, this method requires a ton of energy and is extremely costly because this type of technology is still being developed. 

Will these technologies prove to actually work? Lacker and Arizona State University manufactured a potential machine to absorb the carbon in the air. Shown below is the graphic of the manufactured plan. This project failed after several attempts due to lack of operations and success and exceeding the budgeting. 

(Lacker and Arizona State University)

There is a negative downside to this potential climate plan. It does not require major corporations to change their behavior because they will be hoping for future technologies to fix the damage that they are doing. Microsoft is still planning to work with fossil fuel companies although they are making climate plans. “In 2019 alone, the technology company had entered into long-term partnerships with three major oil companies, including ExxonMobil, which will be using Microsoft’s technology to expand oil production by as much as 50,000 barrels a day…” Climate plans are still in the developing phase, so there are no promises as to whether they could work or prove to be effective. Major companies should focus on their current climate impacts and seek out plans that can be successful. 

Written By: Johane Plaisime - Social Media/Events Planning Intern of Moni K LLC

SOURCES

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/23/microsoft-climate-crisis-moonshot-plan 

https://www.carbonneutral.com/ 

https://www.theelders.org/news/what-carbon-neutrality-%E2%80%93-and-how-can-we-achieve-it-2050