Microsoft makes 'carbon negative' pledge

Microsoft has pledged to remove "all of the carbon" from the environment that it has emitted since the company was founded in 1975.

Chief executive Satya Nadella said he wanted to achieve the goal by 2050 .

To do so, the company aims to become "carbon negative" by 2030, removing more carbon from the environment than it emits.

That goes beyond a pledge by its cloud-computing rival Amazon, which intends to go "carbon neutral" by 2040.

"When it comes to carbon, neutrality is not enough," said Microsoft president Brad Smith.

"The carbon in our atmosphere has created a blanket of gas that traps heat and is changing the world's climate," he added in a blog.

"If we don't curb emissions, and temperatures continue to climb, science tells us that the results will be catastrophic."

The company also announced it was setting up a $1bn (£765m) climate innovation fund to develop carbon-tackling technologies.