By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 16th, 2024
Microsoft recently stated that a multitude of companies needs to start focusing on continued staff education toward climate change.
According to Brad Smith, President at Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), there is a current deficit in talent for addressing climate change. During a media session, Smith pointed out that countless businesses will fall short of their climate change pledges unless they begin training employees on sustainability.
“We have to move very quickly to start to bring our emissions down, and the ultimate bottleneck is the supply of skilled people,” he noted.
Smith also suggested that these affected companies, roughly 3900 in all, have an insufficiently basic approach to some climate change issues. For instance, they lacked substantial pace and advancement on common instruction on matters such as carbon accounting. The Microsoft President aired his views ahead of a report released on Wednesday by the Washington-based software maker.
Although Microsoft sells software for organizations to track their environmental impact, Smith concludes that beyond the technology, more is needed. The business executive, who also serves as Vice Chairman of Microsoft, also announced plans to develop green education materials. Microsoft will also likely roll this out on several online and social media platforms, including LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns.
Insight into Microsoft Climate Change Study
The Microsoft and Boston Consulting Group study released on Wednesday discovered that 68% of corporate environmental leaders were internal hires. The hires typically comprise team members that lack relevant degrees in environmental sustainability. Smith said:
“That is in part an issue for us because it’s an issue for everybody. Employers really need to step back and take a broader look at their investment in employee learning and training.”
The findings of the study came from a wide and varied pool. These include interviews as well as surveys with Microsoft and eight other large companies in relevant industries such as consumer goods and finance.
As suggested corrective steps, Smith says companies should bring in instructors and pay for continuing education. In addition, the top Microsoft business executive and lawyer suggests that these companies should use strategies that pertain to carbon reduction.
Putting Smith’s prescribed corrective timescale in perspective, it took one Microsoft employee over 30 years at the company to actualize a sustainability role. During that period, the employee moved through several positions, such as customer support and procurement, before earning a promotion to lead part of the sustainability team. This timescale was further contrasted by the report’s 11-year expectation regarding the release of a dangerous cumulative amount of carbon dioxide.
As it stands, Microsoft has swelled its sustainability headcount from only 30 to approximately 250 in the past three years. However, Smith emphasizes that the company is still grappling with having the right staff to deliver on its carbon-reduction goals.
Microsoft Stock Impacted by Weak Fiscal Q2 Guidance
Meanwhile in recent news, Microsoft stock took a hit about a week ago following weak guidance for its fiscal second quarter. This underwhelming prognosis resulted from the company’s underperforming Azure cloud business.