Ctg sit23 hub banner.jpg

Microsoft is second tech company named as COP26 Principal Partner

The company has demonstrated a 'clear commitment' to carbon neutrality

Microsoft continues to signal a commitment to green issues, have been named as a Principal Partner of COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow this November.

Microsoft is one of only two technology companies to be on the Principal Partner list; the others are SSE, ScottishPower, NatWest Group, National Grid, Sky, Sainsbury's, Hitachi, Reckitt and GSK.

The COP Principal Partners are firms that have demonstrated a clear commitment to fighting climate change and moving towards net zero carbon emissions.

Two years ago, Microsoft began trialling a new underwater data centre in Orkney, Scotland, as a proof of concept - the idea being that the data centre would disperse heat more effectively and require lower power. The results of the experiment - known as Project Natick - appear to have been very positive, with Microsoft also reporting a lower server failure rate than land-based facilities.

Scaling the proof of concept up to a commercial product will require more work, but project lead Ben Cutler is confident in the future. He told the BBC, "We're past the point where this is a science experiment."

Project Natick ran on fully renewable energy, but Microsoft has also tested other alternative energy sources, including hydrogen fuel cells. The company pledged to become carbon negative by 2030 in January last year, and this year was one of the companies to sign the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact - along with cloud giants AWS and Google.

COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma said, "I am delighted to welcome Microsoft as a Principal Partner of COP26. Tackling climate change is one of the greatest and most urgent challenges we face, and companies like Microsoft are helping to create the technology the world needs to reduce our own impact on the environment.

"Businesses have a key role to play in helping us ensure COP26 is a success and I look forward to working with Microsoft as we continue our work ahead of the summit in November."

Microsoft is second tech company named as COP26 Principal Partner

The company has demonstrated a 'clear commitment' to carbon neutrality

Security Technology

CISO: Why we will probably stick with CrowdStrike

Business Software

Massive IT outage hits airlines, hospitals and banks around the globe

Operating Systems

Microsoft overhauls Windows update process, announces smaller 'checkpoint' updates