Microsoft Faces Shareholder Vote Over Controversial Role in Producing Advanced Technologies for Fossil Fuel Extraction Despite Global Sustainability Commitments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Ryon Harms, [email protected], (310) 579-2188
BERKELEY, CA—DECEMBER 10, 2024—Today, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) shareholders will vote on a resolution calling on the company to address the risks associated with its deployment of advanced technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), for the fossil fuel industry.
Filed by shareholder representative As You Sow on behalf of Will and Holly Alpine, the resolution calls for Microsoft to address the risks associated with using AI products to support high carbon projects that create risk to Microsoft’s long-term operations, financial stability, and reputation.
In 2020, Microsoft committed to “becoming carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030, while protecting more land than we use,” a commitment currently outlined on its corporate social responsibility website. Yet, Microsoft’s advanced technology platforms are being used to facilitate new oil and gas projects that significantly increase global greenhouse gas emissions and slow the transition to low-carbon technologies.
"Microsoft has made significant progress in positioning itself as a leader in addressing climate change. However, its ongoing provision of AI technologies to fossil fuel companies, even those that lack credible net zero commitments, risks undermining these efforts," said Danielle Fugere, President & Chief Counsel at As You Sow. “As an influential player in the AI space, Microsoft can demonstrate true leadership in the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future by ensuring that its technologies are not being used to facilitate and expand the production of high emission products that lock in catastrophic warming.”
As AI plays an increasingly pervasive role in society, concerns are mounting that Microsoft’s AI systems are fueling practices that create deepening climate risk. Microsoft’s continued facilitation of high carbon companies could expose the company to reputational risks, regulatory scrutiny, and market shifts away from the company as investors, consumers, and its own employees demand greater accountability on climate-related issues.
Will and Holly Alpine have 14 years of collective experience at Microsoft, where they have led initiatives at the intersection of AI, ethics, energy, and environmental sustainability. Holly founded the Community Environmental Sustainability program, improving ecosystems and social equity across 45 global communities, and co-founded Microsoft’s Employee Engagement program for sustainability, which supports 10,000 employees. Will, a Responsible AI product manager, led a sustainable AI development employee group and co-founded the Green Software Foundation’s Carbon Aware SDK. He also co-authored Microsoft’s ‘Accelerating Sustainability with AI’ whitepaper. Together, they spent years advocating within Microsoft to align its business activities with its sustainability commitments, presenting executives with research on the climate impact of its oil and gas deals.
According to Will Alpine, “Microsoft has emphasized the need for AI guardrails to ‘steer the world safely, securely, and equitably toward net-zero emissions.” However, no such guardrails currently exist to ensure that Microsoft’s AI projects align with climate science, making it difficult for investors to verify Microsoft’s claim that ‘the technology we create always benefits everyone on the planet, including the planet itself.’ A crucial first step for Microsoft is to begin assessing and reporting on the risks associated with applying AI to enable fossil fuel production. This transparency is necessary for shareholders to evaluate whether Microsoft is living up to its commitment to benefit both people and the planet.”
Alpine added, “Microsoft often points to its Responsible AI and Energy Principles in response to scrutiny. However, its Responsible AI principles do not address environmental harms, and its Energy Principles fail to evaluate the integrity of fossil fuel companies’ Net Zero commitments, which too often fail to include emissions from use of their fuel products — the largest source of their emissions. This renders these principles ineffective at mitigating climate risk.”
This resolution reflects a growing movement within the investment community to recognize climate-related risks as material to business operations and to seek alignment of business models with the global Paris Agreement’s goals.
About As You Sow
As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility. Its focus areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, the Rights of Nature, racial justice, and workplace diversity. Click here to view As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.