Microsoft 2024 Environmental Sustainability Report
Microsoft’s 2024 Environmental Sustainability Report has shed light on its growing water replenishment partnership with innovative AI company, FIDO Tech.
Since 2023, Microsoft and FIDO have been working collaboratively with water utilities in some of the world’s most stressed river basins by helping to reduce water loss from public pipeline networks using AI.
Currently, nearly a third of the world’s piped water is lost before it reaches the people who need it, most of it through leaks which never appear above ground and are extremely hard to find.
FIDO AI’s ability to find and measure hidden underground leaks using acoustics empowers water utilities to fix the leaks that matter and save more water faster.
FIDO data analytics then transparently verifies the volumetric water saved as well as the greenhouse gas used to make it.
So far, Microsoft has supported the deployment of FIDO AI on water pipeline networks in London, Phoenix and Mexico as part of three innovative water replenishment projects, each lasting 10 years.
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A water positive business by 2030
Microsoft has committed to being water positive by 2030, working towards five key pillars: reducing water use, replenishing water sources, providing people with access to water and sanitation services, advocating for effective water policy and driving innovation and data digitization.
As reported in the 2024 report, the FIDO projects contributed to a significant uptick in Microsoft’s water replenishment programme in 2023.
Our innovative first-of-a-kind replenishment project is mentioned by President Brad Smith and Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa in their co-authored forward on page 5. The first three projects launched in 2023 also feature in more detail later in the report as part of its commitment to accelerating progress using AI (page 29).
New for 2024: Water United
The document also makes reference to our most ambitious collaborative project yet – Water United.
Water United expands on the collaborative model used in our first three projects to create a wider community of public and private partners around the common goal of replenishing the over-allocated Colorado river basin (page 5).
