As part of its goal towards net zero emissions by 2050, Microsoft is backing a startup company dedicated to providing an alternative energy source to diesel generators. Moxion Power is focused on building battery-powered, mobile generator technology. The tech firm is getting backing from the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.
“We design, engineer, and manufacture all of the core technologies that we use,” Moxion CEO Paul Huelskamp told CNBC. “So we’re not buying someone else’s battery module. We are actually manufacturing battery modules in-house.”
Huelskamp added that diesel generators are both difficult and expensive to maintain. Plus, they burn diesel fuel very inefficiently, which he said is “extremely wasteful and terrible for the environment.”
In addition to Microsoft, Moxion has also received funding from Amazon, Enterprise Holdings, Energy Impact Partners, Tamarack Global and Sunbelt Rentals. The company has so far received $110 million in funding.
Microsoft co-founder and soon-to-be-grandfather Bill Gates recently wrote in his personal blog that if we don’t eliminate global greenhouse gases by 2050, “our grandchildren will” be forced to live with the consequences.
“I can sum up the solution to climate change in two sentences: We need to eliminate global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050,” Gates wrote. “Extreme weather is already causing more suffering, and if we don’t get to net-zero emissions, our grandchildren will grow up in a world that is dramatically worse off.”
Added Gates: “Getting to zero will be the hardest thing humans have ever done. We need to revolutionize the entire physical economy — how we make things, move around, produce electricity, grow food, and stay warm and cool — in less than three decades.”
Investors seeking exposure to Microsoft while also investing in the path to net zero emissions may want to check out the Xtrackers Net Zero Pathway Paris Aligned U.S. Equity ETF (NYSE Arca: USNZ). USNZ provides large- and mid-cap U.S. equity exposure aligned with an internationally recognized framework and is designed to capture the move of the global economy to a net-zero emissions environment.
Launched in June, USNZ is designed to align to transform economies to net zero. It provides exposure to a unique Paris Aligned Benchmark (PAB) index that uses a transparent set of rules aiming to be at the cutting edge of sustainable investment practices.
Microsoft is the second highest holding in USNZ as of December 19, weighted at 7.34%.
The index is designed to provide a 50% reduction in carbon intensity versus a market capitalization-weighted U.S. equity index and a carbon intensity reduction trajectory of 7% year-over-year. It provides an evidence-based, statistically driven “pathway” to net zero, aligned with the Paris Climate Accords and their two main objectives: to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 and limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
In addition to meeting PAB regulations, the index also aims to comply with recommendations published by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), specifically its Net Zero Investment Framework.
USNZ has an expense ratio of 0.1%.
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