Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) held a panel discussion with Microsoft themed "Accelerating Sustainability with Technology" on December 6, 2023.

BAI Chong-En, dean of Tsinghua SEM, Brad Smith, the vice chair and president of Microsoft, and Dr. ZHOU Lidong, the corporate vice president of Microsoft and managing director of Microsoft Research Asia attended the panel. Smith is also a distinguished visiting professor at Tsinghua University. The event was hosted by Tsinghua SEM's Associate Dean HE Ping.

From left to right: HE Ping, Brad Smith, BAI Chong-En and ZHOU Lidong

During the forty-minute discussion, attendees shared opinions and observations on technological innovation, investment, policy-making and international cooperation in the context of climate change and green energy transformation.

Brad Smith highlighted four dimensions to illustrate the sophistication that has evolved in the past five years and how people need to address sustainability: the technology to measure carbon emissions; adaptation to the climate change; reduction of carbon emissions and transition of energy; and reverse the damage that has been done. He said that different investors, including venture fund, private capital, governments, and corporates like Microsoft, all invested in the development of new technologies. "What we do right now is targeting companies with breakthrough technologies that will be able to be used in carbon emissions," Smith said.

From the perspective of governing, BAI said that governments from all over the world have been encouraging for energy transformation and better coordination by the government is expected to better serve carbon reduction goals. He re-emphasized the importance of alignment of different policies in the investment of green energy.

ZHOU also applauded that much academic efforts had been put into relevant research. For example, Microsoft is working with a number of academic institutions, the biggest among which is Tsinghua University, to address the challenges of low-carbon development from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Technology can enhance productivity, but it can also harm the environment, for example, by producing carbon emissions from datacenters. Smith said that AI needs to be used as a foundational tool that can drive breakthroughs in other technologies. He also proposed that people should run the AI datacenters as electricity efficient as possible, and ensure that all the electricity that powered datacenters and AI infrastructure are carbon-free. According to Smith, Microsoft had set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions in January of 2020 and applied an internal policy of charging carbon tax to remove the carbon emissions generated. "It's a question that people ask: why do you do this? I just say that we are in a position we can afford to do that and it's good," Smith said.

BAI Chong-En said green transformation is a very good coordination so everybody can move together. "Without the push, without the threat of climate change, you may never make the transition, which is good for everybody," BAI said. He believed that renewable energy can be more efficient than the carbon-based energy despite all the costs and when the energy sector becomes much more efficient, it will bring positive impact to the growth of GDP.

Technology can also play a more promising role. ZHOU said AI may be able to provide more solutions to improve energy efficiency and accelerate carbon removal.

The guests also discussed international collaboration. Smith said what is missing in it is the accountability of concrete measure for people to know their performance comparing to the goals set in the 2035 Paris Agreement. "It's why the sustainability finance market is exploding and skill in sustainability is so important. This will be an exciting field for the rest of the century," he said.

BAI saw some potential obstacles for the world to make green transformation: not enough worry about climate change and the overemphasis on so called "security" of new energy. "We are educating students from all over the world and making policy makers to sit together and to discuss the issues more carefully and broadly, and getting rid of some of the misconceptions. Business school can play this convening role," BAI said. As a researcher, ZHOU also held the belief that international exchanges can bring diversified visions.

At the end, the guests expressed optimistic thoughts about the future of sustainable development, and expected the young generation to play a greater role in it.

Group photo

QIAN Yingyi, Distinguished Professor of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University, professor of the department of economics and the fourth dean of Tsinghua SEM; CHEN Yubo, senior associate dean of Tsinghua SEM; Carol Ann Browne, the chief of staff of Microsoft; Yang HOU, CEO of Greater China Region and many guests from Microsoft were present. Over 200 students and faculty from SEM, School of Environment, School of Public Policy and Management, Schwarzman College, Law School of Tsinghua University, attended the panel.

Reporters: REN Zhongxi, PENG Xinyi