On May 17^th 2007, a very important milestone took place between Microsoft and the Clinton Foundation. We announced a partnership with the Clinton Foundation to help the world’s 40 largest cities reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.  This is a KEY step forward in our effort to demonstrate the power of software in enabling solutions to pressing societal problems, in this case the issue of climate change and environmental sustainability. 

In conjunction with software company Infosys, Microsoft will build a showcase Software + Services (S+S) solution which the cities will use to inventory their current emissions, run “what-if scenarios” to determine which programs might yield the most reductions, track progress of those programs, and share best practices with counterparts in other cities.   

The announcement of this important partnership was made by the former President Clinton at the Large Cities Climate Summit in NYC, New York, which was hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and was attended by more than 45 Mayors representing over 400 million citizens.  These cities are working together to accelerate action on the issue of climate change, with focused programs in the areas of Energy Efficiency, Waste Management, Water Supply and Purification, Transportation etc...   The identified cities desperately need a common set of tools to help in this effort and are very excited about our joint effort with the President Clinton Foundation.  By being involved at the early stage, Microsoft will be trusted advisors in that discussion or taking this important project from Inception through to Completion.    The following provide coverage of this news to date:

Microsoft, Clinton Target City Emissions, Associated Press

Microsoft, Clinton Foundation to Build Carbon Emissions Monitor, Bloomberg

Microsoft, Clinton group form green partnership, Reuters

This project is being led by Michael Rawding (Vice President, Microsoft), Robert Bernard (General Manager, Microsoft) and Jean Paoli (General Manager, Microsoft) and with support from Craig Mundie’s (Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft) organization.   In addition to the software to be built by Microsoft, we are looking to build a consortium of private sector partners to insure that the solution will be sustained and enhanced in an ongoing fashion.  

Rob Bernard and other executives believe that this project will seed the standards and guidelines for 1,000’s of cities around the world to manage their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And, that this is a significant step in showing both technical leadership in providing an OBA and S+S application to the world’s major cities, as well as an opportunity for us to show thought leadership on this extremely important initiative. 

During his speech (can be heard from here) the former President made a compelling case for the powerful need for companies and governments to invest in this global challenge. Both Rob Bernard and Michael Rawding attended this eventful Presidential speech. The President had asked the crowd a simple question that If we do nothing different tomorrow than what we have been doing up until today, do we think that 25 years or 50 years from now that our children and grandchildren would be able to enjoy the quality of life that we have been able to enjoy?  He also noted that in the past 100 years, we have seen more species extinction than at any time in the past 500 million years. He drew on historic data, the uniqueness of the human species on earth and in the universe, and our obligation as stewards for the globe. His speech (as Rob puts it), “was a powerful case for change”.

As the President appealed to the crowd of Mayors, large corporate CEO’s, governmental agencies and private companies to think about the importance of the issue of climate change, he announced that Microsoft would be partnering with the Clinton Foundation to help build out the software for the cities to use in helping monitor their pollution levels and progress.  A number of Mayor’s and CEO’s of large companies at the event expressed great enthusiasm and thanks for our involvement in this project. It makes us all at Microsoft feel extremely proud to hear that Microsoft received such a warm response.  There are huge inefficiencies in the way we build, manage and use buildings. We can all think of our own patterns of our home and office experiences to realize that there are many simple changes that we can make to reduce our overall energy use. 

For those who would like to read more about this event and the role that banks, construction partners and Mayors of many of the world’s largest cities are doing, please visit the Clinton Foundation site and C40Cities.org.

At Microsoft, we are all very excited about this very important initiative and milestone. We are looking forward by this close partnership with the Clinton Foundation, to help bring a change to the betterment of the Climatic quality of our planet.

ciao

Nagi