SUSTAINABLE FINANCE
Microsoft is celebrating the first five years of its Climate Innovation Fund, which has seen an US $ 800m investment converted into US $ 12bn of projects. CIF was launched in 2020 when Microsoft set groundbreaking sustainability goals to become a carbon negative, water positive and zero waste company by 2030 and to protect land and ecosystems.
The US $ 1bn CIF was designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emerging climate innovations through equity and debt capital.
Microsoft has now published its fiveyear progress report, saying it underscores its“ core belief that Microsoft’ s business thrives when the world thrives.”
‘ Big goals need bold bets’ Melanie Nakagawa, Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer, says the business had to bet on things it could not yet see when it launched CIF.
She says:“ Big goals need bold bets. When we launched Microsoft’ s US $ 1bn Climate Innovation Fund in 2020, we knew the road to reaching our ambitious sustainability goals would need to be paved, in part, with new and innovative solutions.
“ We needed to invest in technologies that weren’ t yet at commercial scale or, in some cases, didn’ t yet exist. Our hope was that these early investments would spark broader interest and that momentum would help launch and scale solutions the world needs.”
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