COP26: The path from pledges to progress

As I write this, I’m leaving?behind?a few busy days in?the misty?lowlands of?Glasgow, Scotland,?which?is continuing to serve?as?the host city for the COP26 climate conference.?It?is?an apt?setting?to test?humanity’s resolve in dealing with the urgent reality of global climate change.?Scotland’s?rolling hills and?winding?rivers?were?shaped?in part?by?a?glacial retreat?beginning roughly?20,000 years ago, a?firm?reminder of?the?powerful?forces?that?now?are being pushed along by human activity.?More recently,?in the 1700s,?the University of Glasgow?provided the site?where?James Watt?tinkered?with?an?early version of?his steam?engine, an invention?that?would?become?not just?a driving force?for?the Industrial?Revolution?but?for??unprecedented?prosperity?– and carbon – that would?spread around the world.?Put in this broad perspective,?It?makes sense?for the world?to return to?Glasgow?to?imagine?a net zero?carbon?future.?

Since the first?Conference of Parties (COP)?took place?in Berlin in 1995,?this?UN-led?event?has brought?people?together?for?the?shared?purpose?of reducing?greenhouse gas?emissions.?Without?question, progress?has been too slow in?the intervening decades.?But?at COP26, I was struck by?a universal recognition that the time?simply?to point fingers has long since?expired. What?matters?most?is that we roll?up our sleeves?and focus on the hard work?needed to make faster?progress.?Even as disagreements persist over “how,” there is?greater?clarity?on?“what.”?Mindful of the daunting task ahead,?I leave Glasgow feeling more hopeful.?For me, a?few?key learnings?emerged.?

1. Our top-down goals?require?bottom-up solutions.?At COP26,?I?had an opportunity to?engage?directly and in person?with?leaders?working?on?healthcare, manufacturing, steel, electrical generation, cement production, and?other?fields?of huge importance to carbon emissions. What was clear?across?these conversations is that?there?is no?one-size-fits-all approach to decarbonization.?Although the goals are shared, the methods for achieving?them?will vary across industries and companies.?The key to addressing climate change?at a company like Microsoft?is to?partner with?every?industry to understand how it functions, discern the elements vital to its success,?share?and adapt solutions, and?help our customers?chart an informed?path to decarbonization.?
2. ?We can’t manage what we can’t measure.?The world’s path to net zero depends on?reliable and consistent?measurement. It was encouraging to?see?so much attention?devoted to?improving?common?measurement techniques for carbon emissions.?This?aspect?is central to holding?countries, industries, and companies accountable?for?progress. Without?sound measurements, we?risk?simply?recycling?pledges and?raising?expectations that we?fail to meet.?
3. The world needs new?technology to reach net zero.?A lot of new technology.?The COP26 conference pavilions?were bustling?with cutting-edge?innovations, particularly in renewables?like wind and solar power.?Talking with leaders in these fields left me with more hope and greater optimism about the decade ahead. But clearly much more?is needed.?Future?advances?in these technologies?need to be paired with?progress?in?other?key areas like?long-duration?battery storage and sustainable aviation?fuel.?At our Microsoft booth, we were?excited?to?demo?our?new?Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability . This service?wields the?power of the Microsoft Cloud to?help organizations?integrate?disparate data sources, accurately?build?carbon accounting?reports,?better?measure?performance against goals, and?ultimately?glean?insights?to take more effective action on sustainability.?As a technology company, we?will?continue?pushing the envelope on?digital?solutions?that?can?empower every organization to?set, measure, and achieve?its?sustainability goals, and we will share our learnings at every?chance?along the way.?Conversations in Glasgow provide one important way to do this.?
4. But incremental?technologies?alone?won’t be enough—we also need new industries.?Turning the tide against climate change, especially after so many years of insufficient progress,?will require new fields that?might?have sounded?either?contrived?or like science fiction?even a?decade?ago. One?prominent?example is?carbon capture and storage?(CCS),?which encompasses a burgeoning set of technologies?that?remove?carbon?from the?environment?and store it?deep?underground.?We are working with others to?build and grow this new?market and spur innovation within it.?Last year, Microsoft?purchased?the removal?of?1.3 million metric tons of carbon —the largest?corporate?removal?procurement to date—which accounted for roughly 65?percent??of?all?the proposals?globally?that met our requirements for high-quality removal.?This market will grow exponentially in the decade ahead, with?estimates ranging?for a total market between?500 million?and 1.3 billion?tons in 2030.?To meet the planet’s needs, it?will?mature into a multi-billion-ton market by 2050.?
5. We must adopt an “and” mindset.?The sheer complexity of?the climate change problem?can be overwhelming,?often?leading us to think in terms of tradeoffs.?Do?we focus on carbon or methane? Do we?reduce?emissions?or incentivize?removal??In?every?case,?the urgency and magnitude of?this?crisis demand that we?do both.?It?was good to see governments?at COP26 align on the?Global Methane Pledge,?while also recognizing that this cannot?reduce the world’s focus on carbon.?Climate change is a multifaceted?problem,?and it requires?a multifaceted?response.?

It's worth recognizing that?COP26?is taking?place?against the backdrop of an ongoing global pandemic.?Everyone there?is required?to start their day by taking a rapid test and uploading the results to a central portal. Masks?are?ubiquitous across the venue.?For many, it?is?the first?large?event?they’ve?attended?since the seemingly distant days before COVID-19. The?experience?illustrates?human agility?and?focus?in the face of uncertainty, especially?when it comes to?bringing people together?around a common goal?to get things done.?Solving the?climate crisis will require?a similar unity of purpose and?a?commitment to innovation?and adaptation. I saw?sure signs of that?in Glasgow. It?gives me hope and?inspiration?to?buckle down?and?help?solve the?many?challenges?that lie ahead.?