微軟承諾從大氣中清除所有它曾經(jīng)排放的碳

微軟承諾從大氣中清除所有它曾經(jīng)排放的碳

Microsoft has announced an ambitious plan to not just reduce its carbon emissions, but to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere — going "carbon negative" by 2030.

微軟宣布了一項雄心勃勃的計劃，不僅要減少碳排放，還要積極消除大氣中的碳——到2030年實現(xiàn)“負(fù)碳”。

And by 2050. the tech giant pledges it will "remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since it was founded in 1975."

這家科技巨頭承諾，到2050年，它將“從環(huán)境中清除公司自1975年成立以來直接排放或用電排放的所有碳。”

As the world faces the increasingly dire effects of climate change, which is caused by greenhouse gas emissions, a growing number of companies have pledged to reduce their carbon emissions.

隨著全球面臨由溫室氣體排放導(dǎo)致的氣候變化帶來的日益嚴(yán)重的影響，越來越多的公司承諾減少碳排放。

It's much rarer to pledge to go carbon negative; in that, Microsoft is joining Ikea and a handful of much smaller companies.

承諾實現(xiàn)碳負(fù)增長要難得多;在這方面，微軟加入了宜家和一些小得多的公司的行列。

And vowing to remove all the emissions the company ever released is even more unusual.

而發(fā)誓要消除該公司所排放的所有氣體更是不同尋常。

"I've never seen that before," says Cynthia Cummis, the director of private sector climate mitigation at the World Resources Institute.

“我以前從未見過這種情況，”世界資源研究所私營部門減緩氣候變化主管辛西婭•卡米斯表示。

Cummis says that Microsoft's commitment is also noteworthy for its level of detail.

卡米斯說，微軟的承諾也因其細(xì)節(jié)水平而值得注意。

The company already pushes employees to consider emissions while making business decisions. Microsoft says it will adapt that policy to reduce emissions not just within the company but also across its entire supply chain. It says it will cut its own emissions to "near zero" by using 100% renewable energy and relying on electric vehicles.

該公司已經(jīng)要求員工在做商業(yè)決策時考慮排放問題。微軟表示，它將調(diào)整這一政策，不僅在公司內(nèi)部，而且在整個供應(yīng)鏈范圍內(nèi)減少排放。該公司表示，將通過使用100%的可再生能源和依賴電動汽車，將自己的排放量削減至“接近零”。

"They're going to decarbonize at a very fast rate and then [use] carbon removals to balance out those remaining emissions," Cummis says. "That's what's in line with science and what we want to see all companies doing."

“他們將以非常快的速度脫碳，然后(利用)碳去除量來平衡那些剩余的排放，”卡米斯說。“這符合科學(xué)，也是我們希望看到所有公司都這么做的。”

A climate change activist group, called Microsoft's announcement "an important step in the right direction."

一個氣候變化活動組織稱，微軟的聲明是“朝著正確方向邁出的重要一步”。

The group added: "Who will follow next?"

該組織補充道:“誰將是下一個?”

Microsoft, which is one of NPR's sponsors, says it has been "carbon neutral" for years by reducing emissions and paying for offsets for what remained.

作為美國國家公共電臺的贊助商之一，微軟表示，多年來，它一直通過減少排放和為剩余部分支付補償來保持“碳中性”。

But those offsets, while they may have kept new carbon dioxide from being released, did not usually involve taking existing emissions out of the atmosphere. The company's new policy will place a much stronger emphasis on such carbon removal.

但是，這些補償雖然可能阻止了新的二氧化碳的排放，但通常并不涉及將現(xiàn)有的排放從大氣中去除。該公司的新政策將更加強調(diào)這種碳減排。

"Neutral is not enough to address the world's needs," Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in the announcement Thursday.

微軟總裁布拉德·史密斯在周四的聲明中寫道:“保持中立不足以滿足世界的需求。”

Planting trees is one way to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. Higher-tech strategies are also being researched, including pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it in storage.

植樹是積極消除大氣中碳的一種方式。更高技術(shù)的策略也在研究中，包括從大氣中提取碳并將其儲存起來。

"It's not a new technology," says David Goldberg, a Columbia University research professor who studies carbon removal and storage. Small-scale installations are active now. But "scaling that technology up to where it could be very, very effective and viable for a large-scale capture and storage ... that's earlier in the development phase," Goldberg says.

“這不是一項新技術(shù)，”哥倫比亞大學(xué)研究碳去除和儲存的教授大衛(wèi)高博說。小規(guī)模的安裝現(xiàn)在正在進(jìn)行中。但是“將這項技術(shù)擴(kuò)展到非常、非常有效和可行的地方，用于大規(guī)模的捕獲和存儲……那是在開發(fā)階段的早期，”高博說。

Microsoft is pledging to create a $1 billion fund to invest in developing such technology, similar to other climate-focused funds (including one spearheaded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates).

微軟承諾建立一個10億美元的基金來投資開發(fā)這類技術(shù)，類似于其他關(guān)注氣候變化的基金(包括由微軟聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人比爾·蓋茨牽頭的基金)。