Strategic CSR - Microsoft (+ Delta)

The article in the url below from Bloomberg Green Daily's newsletter is disappointing, for many reasons:

"Staff at Microsoft have told some developers of carbon removal credits that the company is pausing what is currently the world’s biggest program for financing the extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere."

To give you an idea of how big a blow this is to the market for carbon removal credits, the chart accompanying the article makes the extent of Microsoft's impact abundantly clear:

 

 To be specific:

"Microsoft is by far the largest investor in removal credits, having set an ambitious goal to be carbon negative by 2030. The company is engaged in deals across a variety of technologies, with Bloomberg estimating that its purchases in 2025 accounted for 96% of the entire market."

The article develops a line of argument that seeks to explain the decision to pull back but, in the process, instead makes clear why Microsoft's continued engagement is more essential than ever:

"While Microsoft has expanded its carbon removals program, the company’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly on the back of its investment in data centers needed to power artificial intelligence."

Microsoft has been progressive on this issue for a long time, and was one of the first companies to account for an internal carbon price to help assess the ROI on projects (see Strategic CSR - Carbon tax). It is disappointing to see them pull back from this market, especially when technological innovation seems at a formative stage. But, they are clearly not alone -- on this or other related stories. To learn about companies dropping their 'net zero' targets, for example, see the article in the second url, below:

"Delta Air Lines Inc. quietly scrubbed a pair of key environmental targets from its sustainability web page. The Atlanta-based carrier deleted its pledge to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for 10% of its jet fuel by 2030. It also rephrased its quest to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 as an “aspiration,” rather than a 'goal.'”

As the graphic accompanying that article shows, Delta is far from where it would need to be to achieve the targets it (voluntarily) set itself -- unfortunately, they are not an outlier in the airline industry (see also Strategic CSR - Executive pay):

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

 

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e  

Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/

The library of CSR Newsletters is archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

Microsoft Staff Tell Some Carbon Capture Companies It's Pausing Deals

By Alastair Marsh and Ishika Mookerjee

April 13, 2026

Bloomberg Green Daily

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-04-13/microsoft-staff-say-carbon-removal-deals-paused-in-program-shakeup

Delta Waters Down Net Zero Target to an 'Aspiration'

By Ben Elgin and Kyle Stock

April 14, 2026

Bloomberg Green Daily

https://origin.www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-04-14/delta-waters-down-net-zero-target-to-an-aspiration

Strategic CSR - 40-hour workweek

The article in the url below charts the development of the 40-hour workweek in the U.S. As the author argues, while the story of its evolution is interesting, it is more interesting that something we take for granted today is a relatively recent innovation. In spite of some industry-specific legislation, along with experiments by companies such as Ford, the norm for workers in the early 20th Century remained long hours and a six-day week -- a situation that only really changed with The Great Depression:

"Amid mass unemployment, a bipartisan consensus developed in Washington around work sharing: more people working shorter hours. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law. It set a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a standard workweek of 44 hours initially, reduced to 40 hours by 1940, with anybody who worked longer hours being entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay."

This idea spread after the end of WWII:

"In postwar America, the 40-hour week became the norm for millions of workers, with overtime pay acting as a disincentive for employers to require longer hours."

Having won this progress, the author argues that the U.S. worker is now voluntarily surrendering it. Starting in the 1970s, the average workweek has increased in length, and all in the name of individual freedom:

"In the new millennium, the U.S. workweek varies widely for different kinds of workers. Email and the internet, laptops and smartphones, and tools like Zoom and Slack have liberated many office workers from the physical office, but at the cost of an increasingly porous boundary between work and home life."

In other words, you can work whenever you like, as long as it is most of the time:

"A 2025 Gallup poll found that 40% of full-time employees work 40 hours in a typical week, while 38% work from 41 to 59 and 15% work more than 60 hours a week. Only 8% work less than 40 hours."

But, as some begin to question whether the level of productivity is correlated positively with the quantity of hours worked, a few companies are experimenting with a 4-day week (see Strategic CSR — 4-day workweek and Strategic CSR — Microsoft). The research on this so far suggests there are real benefits for organizations:

"Employers participating in the trial saw improvements in employee retention, with resignations falling from 1.8 a month before implementing the four-day week to 1.4 a month afterward. Sick and personal days declined from one day per employee a month to 0.8."

There are also benefits for workers:

"For employees, meanwhile, the main benefits were in well-being and work-life balance. … For example, 69% of participants experienced reduced burnout, nearly 40% were less stressed and anxious, 42% reported better mental health, and 37% percent saw improvements in physical health."

 

The latest twist in the story is the evolution of A.I, of course, which promises to reduce the amount of total work needed. But, it is unclear to the author if that promise will ever be realized, and whether whatever the new norm becomes will be beneficial for workers:

“… it’s not a foregone conclusion that the productivity gains from AI will usher in the age of 15-hour workweeks and abundant leisure time predicted somewhat prematurely by John Maynard Keynes back in 1930."

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

 

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e  

Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/

The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

 

How Did We Get A 40-hour Workweek?

By Andrew Blackman

December 1, 2025

The Wall Street Journal Report: The Business of Work

Late Edition – Final

R17

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/workplace/labor-activism-40-hour-work-week-edcd8305

Strategic CSR - Executive pay

Another indication that the ESG fad has run its course (and was always a distraction) is the decoupling of executive pay from specific associated metrics:

"Two years ago, many of America’s largest companies began stripping diversity targets out of executive pay packages. Now, environmental measures—including goals tied to climate emissions—are beginning to face a similar fate."

In particular, the article in the url below highlights a more recent decision by Apple: 

"Apple Inc. quietly dropped a so-called 'ESG modifier' from its 2025 pay packages for Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and other top executives, according to a corporate filing last month. The provision, in place since 2021, had allowed Apple’s board to adjust annual bonuses up or down by as much as 10% depending on the company’s performance on a variety of measures, including greenhouse-gas reductions and renewable energy use among suppliers."

But, Apple is not alone:

"Apple’s move follows similar decisions at dozens of companies, including Starbucks, Salesforce, Mastercard and P&G, which have recently weakened or severed ties between environmental performance and the size of their executives’ paychecks."

As a result, the more important underlying principle, the need to align compensation with the most essential performance metrics, is being lost due to the shallowness of the ESG discussion:

"The shift is beginning to show up in the numbers. The share of S&P 500 companies tying executive compensation to environmental metrics fell to 46.7% in 2025, down from a peak of 52.6% two years earlier."

Ultimately, in spite of the good intentions driving the ESG 'movement,' the rush to establish it opened the door to easy criticism, and therefore setback the conversation, because it was so ill-thought-through.

 

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

 

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e  

Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/

The library of CSR Newsletters is archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

Apple Drops ESG Links From Top Executives' Pay Packages

By Ben Elgin and Jeff Green

February 18, 2026

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-18/apple-quietly-unlinks-environmental-performance-from-pay-packages

Strategic CSR - Wind turbines

The article in the url below sheds some light on the environmental impact of the wind turbines that have grown in line with the accessibility of wind energy. In one small town in Texas, for example, where a lot of used blades have been discarded, the problem is more than a local nuisance:

"For nearly a decade, residents of Sweetwater have been confronted by a jarring sight as they leave and enter this small West Texas town: thousands of used wind-turbine blades. The blades take up nearly 1 million square feet in a field off Interstate 20. Hundreds more occupy a second site nearby. Originally up to 200 feet long — nearly the wingspan of a Boeing 747 — the blades have been cut into thirds, exposing gaping openings. Locals complain they're a haven for rattlesnakes, collect water that attracts mosquitoes and pose a threat to children living nearby."

To be sure, no-one is suggesting wind turbines approach the environmental impact of fossil fuels. But, this particular problem will only get worse as the value of wind energy continues to increase:

"[This situation] offers a window into the larger challenge of disposing of turbine blades, and other complex plastic-infused materials, after their useful life. Blade waste has been increasing as older turbines are replaced or refurbished, and the world could see some 43 million tons of it by 2050, according to one estimate."

In particular, it is the blades of the wind turbine that are so challenging:

"Up to 90% of a wind turbine's mass can be easily recycled, but not the blades. They contain layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber wrapped around a core of balsa wood or plastic foam. Liquid resin is drawn through the fibers and cured, hardening the structure. Separating these materials for recycling is complex and costly. Transportation adds to the expense, since moving the blades often requires specialist trucks and permits."

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e  

Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/

The library of CSR Newsletters is archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

Blown opportunity

By Saabira Chaudhuri

March 31, 2026

Bloomberg Green Daily

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-31/texas-wind-turbine-recycling-operation-faces-ken-paxton-lawsuit