US-based tech giant Microsoft and UK-based ITV are among the 13 companies who have decided to join the Amazon and Global Optimism-led The Climate Pledge, an initiative to become net-zero carbon by 2040.
With the new additions which also include prominent names such as Coca-Cola European Partners, Rubicon, Unilever, Canary Wharf Group, etc, The Climate Pledge initiative now has 31 companies who support the cause.
Speaking about the new introductions to the initiative, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos stated that “there are now 31 companies from around the world that have signed The Climate Pledge, and collectively we are sending an important signal to the market that there is significant and rapidly growing demand for technologies that can help us build a zero-carbon economy.”
All 31 firms who have signed The Climate Pledge will now have to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis and implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement. Organizations are expected to promote decarbonization through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
The Climate Pledge signatories will also have to neutralize any remaining emissions produced by their organizations, with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer Lucas Joppa remarked that “no one company or organization can meaningfully address the climate crisis on their own. It will take aggressive approaches, new innovative technologies and strong commitment to collaboration across industries and economic sectors.”
“By joining The Climate Pledge community and working together, we will be able to collectively rise to the challenge and curb our emissions so that we can make progress toward a net-zero future,” the Microsoft official summarized.
