The Record - Issue 21: Summer 2021

94 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om F E ATUR E T he looming climate crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today, with everyone from international organ- isations and national governments to busi- nesses and individuals having to take action to meet the oncoming threat. Population growth, increasing urbanisation, rising pressure on resources and a continuously growing global economy are all making this task both more difficult and more essential. For its part, Microsoft has committed to the goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030. By 2050, the company aims to have removed all the carbon dioxide emissions that it has produced either directly or by energy consumption since the company was founded in 1975. As part of this commitment, it is investing over $1 billion in its Climate Innovation Fund over the next four years to help fund new technologies and sustainability solutions. For automotive companies the challenge is a particularly pressing one. Around 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide are emitted annually from a standard internal combustion-engined (ICE) car, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the industry is perceived as being one of the major contributors to global emissions. However, this reputation is not always entirely fair, according to Sanjay Ravi, Microsoft’s worldwide head of automotive. “In total, the automotive industry itself is actually less of a contributor than many think,” says Sanjay Ravi, worldwide head of automotive With climate change becoming a priority for all sectors of society, Microsoft’s Sanjay Ravi discusses how the automotive industry is taking responsibility for its impact on the wider world with a major shift towards electrification and new modes of transportation BY A L E X SM I TH automotive sustainability Driving