Microsoft has collaborated with Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to address climate related issues and improve sustainability outcomes for digital technologies. The partnership aims to encourage the adoption of sustainable technology solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), allowing them to measure, track and report their carbon emissions so they can manage and optimise their resources in a frictionless manner.
The company opened their first Circular Center in Asia, located in Singapore, last year as part of their commitment to sustainability. The Circular Center is designed to ensure that hardware components are tracked and deployed in an optimised manner, from procurement to decommissioning, thereby reducing waste and carbon emissions.
The Microsoft Circular Centers are working towards a goal of 90 per cent reuse of servers and components by 2025, currently processing 12,000 servers per month for reuse. Microsoft is also working with companies like REC Group, Sembcorp, and EDPR APAC to create innovative, sustainable solutions for Singapore and the region in the pursuit of a green economy.
With support from Microsoft’s deep ecosystem of partnerships across the public and private sector, Singapore is also using technology in areas like cybersecurity and sustainability to narrow the gap between skilling and employability. This serves to improve lives while building a resilient and digitally inclusive nation.
The pandemic accelerated digital transformation across almost every sector, but healthcare was a critical area due to the increase in number of people with complex care needs and chronic illnesses. Microsoft partnered with IMDA and other organisations to launch Virtual Digital Clinics as part of its digital inclusion efforts. This helped seniors get advice from volunteers and access essential digital services from home. As a small city state, Singapore is acutely aware of the need to balance economic development and environmental sustainability.
Singapore has already laid the groundwork for building an advanced circular economy infrastructure that can help it take advantage of those opportunities, thanks to its strong commitments from the public and private sectors and a flexible policy environment.
Given the right mix of progressive thinking, innovation, collaboration between governments and the best minds of academic and private-sector institutions, and access to pools of investment capital, Microsoft said that it hopes solutions can become a reality.
