Getting to carbon negative (continued) 26 Leading the way on low-carbon building materials We are in n ovating and investing in low-carbon building materials across our global campuses and datacenters with the aim to achieve net zero embodied carbon, including the following. Mass timber: At our Silicon Valley campus, we are using mass timber, resulting in the largest mass timber building in the United States. In addition to using this lower carbon building material, we elected to keep two of the existing buildings on the site, providing 36 percent of the new campus footprint and accounting for a 28.6 percent reduction in total embodied carbon. 5 With two floors of mass timber, the embodied carbon savings increases to approximately 36 percent with an estimated total of 372 kg CO 2 e per square meter. 5 With over 345,000 square feet, or 2,400 tons, of 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified mass timber, the wood reflects biophilic principles and a reduced carbon mission. We continue to incorporate mass timber on our campuses and are now testing the suitability of mass timber in datacenter environments and investigating sites to pilot these new materials. Cement: Cement accounts for approximately 8 percent of global emissions. We are testing and piloting low- GHG cement innovations like CarbonCure to reduce the carbon footprint of our buildings. LinkedIn is using low-carbon and carbon-sequestering concrete mixes for our new Silicon Valley headquarters and is now using these materials in our LinkedIn Dublin campus. In our datacenters, we are reducing how much cement we use by utilizing longer 56-day cure times in lieu of typical 28-day cure times. We are also specifying the use of cement replacement pr oducts such as fly ash and slag that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete. Low-carbon materials: We also complete d research on low-carbon materials in collaboration with Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), a nonprofit industry academic organization at the University of Washington. The research explores six low-carbon materials—earthen slabs, non-Portland cement concrete slabs, algae-grown bricks/panels, mycelium (mushroom) structural tubes, purpose-grown fiber, and agricultural waste panels— that can help reduce carbon emissions and change the climate profile of building constructions. We are piloting the use of these materials for our datacenters. We are innovating and investing in low-carbon building materials across our global campuses and datacenters with the aim to achieve net zero embodied carbon. This year, we became a founding member in SABA. This year, we became a founding member in SABA. Rethinking how we travel Although emissions related to business travel represented less than 5 percent of our total emissions, we know that we can have a larger impact with our investments and partnerships. We have made two investments in SAF with airline partners KLM and Alaska. This year, we expanded this work by becoming a founding member in the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) and participating in the World Economic Forum’s “ Clean Skies for Tomorrow . ” We are actively supporting the development of an SAF certificate which will set GHG accounting standards for the use of SAF to reduce emissions by both customers and airlines in the future. We are also looking to reduce emissions in other areas where our learnings in SAF can be applied, from freight and logistics to the fuel used in our datacenter backup generators.
Environmental Sustainability Report | Microsoft Page 25 Page 27