Recent years have seen tremendous development in the big tech sector, with leaders including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. The environment, however, has paid a price for this development as a result of these businesses’ growing carbon footprint. Their carbon emissions are primarily caused by the energy needed to run the enormous data centres that support their services as well as by the energy used by their staff and clients. Despite initiatives to switch to renewable energy sources and boost energy efficiency, it is challenging to completely mitigate their environmental impact due to the size and pace of their operations.
Therefore, in order to lessen the negative effects of their activities on the environment, major tech firms must prioritise sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint. One of those businesses is Microsoft.
Microsoft, a major player in the tech sector, is struggling with a serious carbon pollution issue that is only getting worse despite its stated goal of becoming carbon zero by 2030. In response, the business has contacted Running Tide, a firm that specialises in reducing the negative effects that big businesses have on the environment. By using the ocean as a carbon sink, Running Tide, which has previously collaborated with Stripe and Shopify, wants to reduce Microsoft’s carbon pollution.
On biodegradable buoys, kelp or algae will be grown and used to capture carbon dioxide before sinking to the ocean bottom. Despite the fact that this method is still in its infancy, Running Tide claims that it has only succeeded in removing less than 1,000 tonnes of carbon in research and test runs, with a target of up to 12,000 tonnes over a two-year period for Microsoft alone. Despite worries from some scientists about the potential effect on ocean ecosystems, the innovative strategy used by Running Tide has the potential to greatly reduce Microsoft’s carbon footprint, even though the carbon removal industry is still in its early stages.
