Contributing to Europe’s Environmental Innovation and Leadership
At Microsoft, we are committed to software and technology innovation that helps people and organizations improve the environment. Across Europe, we work closely with governments, NGOs, businesses and academia, collaborating with them on ways to use technology with the aim to resolve issues facing the environment such as climate change and energy sustainability to reduce energy use, rethink business practices and research new solutions.
In 2008, Microsoft embarked on a pioneering five-year alliance with the European Environment Agency to deliver real-time environmental information to more than 600 million Europeans. The Eye on Earth Water Watch portal is the first step in delivering environmental information on more than 60 000 bathing and swimming sites across Europe.
We also build up on research programs to create sustainable software and develop technologies to tackle issues such as climate change, global warming and reducing our carbon footprint. Microsoft Research’s European lab, in Cambridge, UK, is playing a key role in our work to help predict and mitigate the rapid changes occurring in the earth’s life support systems.
With Project2degrees, Microsoft, the Clinton Foundation, ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), and the Center for Neighbourhood Technology are empowering action by the world’s cities by allowing cities to measure, track, and improve their Greenhouse Gas emissions, to collaborate and share best practices.
Microsoft helps companies like Fiat in developing EcoDrive, the world’s first device that interacts directly with drivers and can help them change their driving habits in ways that can reduce auto emissions. In the energy sector, Microsoft has a cooperative agreement with Yello Strom, a Cologne-based electricity supplier, to help people better understand their electricity consumption. In waste management, GIG is an innovative “Garbage Information Gathering” solution developed by Tegos and Microsoft Development Centre Copenhagen.
We also make sure that Microsoft, as a company, aligns its goals to various sustainability practices by developing environment-friendly data centres and other innovative solutions in order to improve efficiency and reliability in the business.
> Learn more about Microsoft in Europe