Microsoft tries to clear the air with mountains of CO2 credits
- Reference: 1720616813
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/07/10/microsoft_occidental_carbon_removal/
- Source link:
This latest agreement is with [1]1PointFive , Occidental's carbon capture and sequestration business, and claimed by the [2]Financial Times to be "worth hundreds of millions of dollars," although the exact value of the transaction has yet to be disclosed.
Carbon credits are a way of buying a verifiable emissions reduction from a third party in other to "offset" one's own emissions, and the concept has come in for some controversy over the years. Nonetheless, Direct Air Capture (DAC), directly extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, has its supporters, with the IPCC [3]stating [PDF] that, while not enough, some form of carbon removal is part of "all modelled scenarios that limit global warming to 2°or lower by 2100."
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1PointFive describes the agreement as the largest single purchase of CDR credits making use of DAC), and says it highlights the increasing adoption of this tech as a solution to help organizations meet their net-zero emission targets.
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[6]
Microsoft's CDR credits will be sunk into STRATOS, an industrial-scale DAC facility under construction in Texas. Here, the captured CO 2 the credits are paying for will be stored through subsurface saline sequestration, according to 1PointFive.
"A commitment of this magnitude demonstrates how one of the world's largest corporations is integrating scalable Direct Air Capture into its net zero strategy," says 1PointFive President and General Manager Michael Avery.
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"Energy demand across the technology industry is increasing and we believe Direct Air Capture is uniquely suited to remove residual emissions and further climate goals."
That six-year period over which the CDR credits will extend fits neatly with the 2030 deadline Microsoft set itself several years back to become "carbon-negative".
However, the company's CO 2 emissions have since increased by nearly 30 percent, according to Microsoft's [8]2024 Environmental Sustainability Report . This was blamed largely on indirect (Scope 3) emissions from the construction and outfitting of more datacenters – a highly carbon-intensive process – to meet customer demand for cloud services.
[9]So much for green Google ... Emissions up 48% since 2019
[10]Bill Gates says not to worry about AI gobbling up energy, tech will adapt
[11]IMF suggests tax on AI's CO 2 emissions, but not AI itself
[12]Microsoft to spend $3.2B on expanding cloud and AI in green energy-rich Sweden
It seems likely that this latest agreement may be intended to counteract this. We asked Microsoft for the reasons behind it and will update if we get answers.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Brian Marrs, Microsoft's Senior Director for Carbon Removal and Energy, said that DAC plays an important role in Microsoft's carbon removal portfolio to support its broader goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2030.
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One of the major causes of Microsoft's feverish datacenter build-out has been AI, with the company ramping up support following the explosion of interest in OpenAI and ChatGPT over the past couple of years.
Microsoft isn't the only tech giant finding itself in this position. Google admitted earlier this month that its CO 2 emissions are [14]up by 48 percent since 2019 , despite having its own 2030 "net-zero" climate commitment - Google also pointed the finger of blame at AI.
The use of credits to offset emissions, however, is causing concern. According to a report by [15]McKinsey , some critics of offsetting – including the use of CDR solutions – cite worries that it provides emitters with a "licence to pollute" and represents "a dangerous distraction" from decarbonization efforts.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace also [16]weighed in last year on the use of methods such as renewable energy certificates (RECs) by tech companies to claim they are meeting their carbon targets.
RECs in particular do not necessarily encourage the production of new wind or solar farms, and the energy supplied through them may still come from fossil fuels on days when there is low wind or solar energy generation.
"Brands like Apple and Microsoft should not promote their products as 'green,' when their supply chains are still powered by coal and gas," a Greenpeace campaigner said at the time. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.1pointfive.com/
[2] https://www.ft.com/content/9e19353c-22ec-4790-b7b7-b5121c5a6258
[3] https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/outreach/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_Factsheet_CDR.pdf
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zo6wIrTqwGWlz2Salg6CcwAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zo6wIrTqwGWlz2Salg6CcwAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zo6wIrTqwGWlz2Salg6CcwAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zo6wIrTqwGWlz2Salg6CcwAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/16/microsoft_co2_emissions/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/02/google_datacenter_emissions/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/28/bill_gates_ai_power_consumption/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/18/imf_ai_fiscal_policy_suggestions/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/03/microsoft_spends_32b_on_expanding/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zo6wIrTqwGWlz2Salg6CcwAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/02/google_datacenter_emissions/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/02/google_datacenter_emissions/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/23/greenpeace_manufacturer_emissions/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: What's in a title
The entire concept of trading carbon credits is an utter scam used be rich corporations (and countries) to justify that they are "Green" and adopting carbon neutral polices when in reality all they are doing is continuing as before (or worse) and just papering over reality with money.
Carbon credits should not be traded but it was devised by rich countries politicians lobbied by huge businesses so that could continue "BAU" and stuff the reality.
" In a statement accompanying the announcement, Brian Marrs, Microsoft's Senior Director for Carbon Removal and Energy, said that DAC plays an important role in Microsoft's carbon removal portfolio to support its broader goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2030. "
Imagine the CO2 that would've been saved if Micro$oft hadn't mandated that Windows 11 couldn't run on older hardware when it was perfectly capable of doing so .
At the risk of sounding like a total Cnut...
Imagine the CO2 (and energy) saved from not having:
- Crypto Currency
- Generative AI
- Whatever the next flavour of cloudy bollocks is
I know, I know, I might as well throw my French plimsolls into the machinery. Still it makes one wonder, ne c'est pas ?
Smart people
"and the energy supplied through them may still come from fossil fuels on days when there is low wind or solar energy generation."
Wow the calibre of mind to realise that we need power and not just when the sun is shining or wind blowing.
Re: Smart people
I think "need" is a bit of a strong word here. When we've made the switch to wind and solar + not built enough nuclear*, and there's a dark and non windy week in December you'll suddenly find that you'll be able to do without just fine. You don't "need" to work, or heat your house or travel. Stock up on candles, blankets and a good book.
But I guess it'll be domestic users who'll suffer rolling blackouts, not the likes of Azure or AWS? If not I guess a lot of people will be wanting to move workloads into eu-west-3 (Paris) where they have lots of nuclear power stations?
Anyone want to take a bet on this actually happening in the next 5 years?
* or in the USA or Germany, deliberately got rid of it all.
Re: Smart people
" I guess a lot of people will be wanting to move workloads into eu-west-3 (Paris) where they have lots of nuclear power stations?"
Well, given the ageing French nuclear fleet, and the problems they had in 2022 when 32 out of 56 reactors were down for faults or scheduled maintenance I'd not want to be too confident on the reliability of their power. Even with proposed life extensions, they can't escape the problems of fleet with an average age around 36 years, and that will be compounded by the problems of having a Europe wide power grid when Germany have shut their 36 reactors, Italy shut down their four, and the loss of 36 reactors in the UK. And all the while they're pushing to make cars run on electricity, and remove gas from heating and power generation.
Europe has no meaningful energy policy, is not so much sleepwalking but actively striding into a bleak future of self imposed energy shortages and intermittent power supply. To do what they want entirely with renewables would require a ten-fold increase in expenditure over the current plans, and I'm not seeing the money nor the political will.
Carbon credits
" the concept has come in for some controversy over the years "
There's plenty of evidence that it's effectively being operated as a scam. The original concept naively assumed all the players would be honest. But it's become just another notional "compliance" where the talk is not walked -- i.e. the net result is no real overall reduction in emissions.
Unbelievable bollox
The idea of “carbon credits” or “carbon trading” is, at best, a most ludicrous idea. And at worse, it’s downright vile and obnoxious (not to mention complete bollox).
It’s the sort of idea that one would expect to see pop up in Dr. Strangelove - a way of pretending to do something and yet doing absolutely zilch.
Greenpeace should be ignored
Any environmentalist who is a vocal opponent of building new nuclear power plants should be completely ignored at this point. They are part of the problem, not the solution.
What's in a title
...Microsoft's Senior Director for Carbon Removal and Energy...
I'm almost sure he's got an art education with a major in using green tinted paints and a minor in green flamed work. Probably a good salesman at selling pink shaded glasses as green ones too.
Sigh!