Shaping tomorrow: Five innovations for our sustainable future

Publish date: Feb 12, 2025

AI is reshaping sustainability across industries and transforming the way we tackle environmental challenges. AI fuels the shift toward carbon-free energy with advancements that include enhanced tools offering insights into ecosystem health, technologies that reduce carbon emissions, and industrial plants powered by hydrogen energy. These innovations are turning challenges into opportunities and driving progress in decarbonization, renewable energy, resource management, and biodiversity.

Here are five innovations that are helping to shape a more sustainable tomorrow across the globe.

Improving grid efficiency

The energy grid is under immense strain from extreme weather, longer wildfire seasons, and rising electricity demands. As stress on the existing energy infrastructure increases and renewable energy sources grow, so does the need for smarter, more efficient energy grids. Utilidata, a company funded in part by the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, is redefining energy transmission through its distributed AI platform, Karman.

Karman analyzes and predicts grid conditions in real time, so utility providers can better manage distributed energy resources, like solar, batteries, and electric vehicles. By embedding AI directly into the grid infrastructure, Karman helps utilities to offset the need for future infrastructure investments. Innovation at Utilidata underscores the power of AI to modernize critical infrastructure.

Optimizing carbon removal

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has emphasized the importance of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in achieving global and national net-zero targets. Natural processes, like soil sequestration and enhanced rock weathering (ERW), which have high carbon removal potential, could contribute as much as 10 gigatons of CDR every year.¹

Terradot, a leader in the ERW market, optimizes the design, deployment, and measurement of ERW projects and is developing an AI-driven solution that analyzes complex environmental datasets and measurements to drive toward maximum project efficiency. With support from Microsoft, Terradot bridges data gaps by conducting thousands of measurements on variables such as groundwater pH, soil type, and organic carbon content. With this granular data, precision deployment of ERW can drive significant reduction in atmospheric CO2 levels and improved crop yields.

The declining biodiversity of our planet has far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and humanity alike. Recognizing the need for more accurate, scalable biodiversity monitoring, the Microsoft AI for Good Lab has developed Solar-Powered Acoustic and Remote Recording Observation Watch (SPARROW) technology.

Deployed in the Amazon rainforest, SPARROW is equipped with solar-powered sensors that autonomously record camera footage, bioacoustics, and other environmental data. Using advanced AI models, these devices analyze and identify species, transmitting insights to researchers in real time via low-Earth orbit satellites.

Using SPARROW’s open-source hardware and algorithms, which are accessible and scalable, conservationists worldwide can fill critical gaps in biodiversity data. With 18,000 researchers and organizations already relying on ecosystem monitoring tools and data, SPARROW is expanding our understanding of ecosystem health and empowering data-driven conservation efforts.

Reducing carbon emissions in steelmaking

The steel industry accounts for 7–9% of global carbon emissions, but Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel) is revolutionizing the sector.

In Sweden, Stegra is developing the world’s first large-scale green steel plant, replacing coal with hydrogen derived from renewable energy. This groundbreaking approach, supported by the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, sets a new benchmark for sustainable industrial practices. By demonstrating that heavy industries can operate with minimal environmental impact, Stegra is leading the charge toward a cleaner future.

Expanding access to cloud services and AI

In Kenya, the Microsoft partnership with G42 is driving a $1 billion initiative to build a comprehensive digital ecosystem. This project includes the development of Swahili-language AI models and digital infrastructure to improve internet connectivity, empowering local communities and businesses.

One standout application is in agriculture, where AI tools provide farmers with precise recommendations to optimize water and fertilizer use, reducing environmental impacts. By expanding access to cloud services and AI, this initiative is fostering economic growth while advancing sustainability in one of Africa’s most vibrant regions.

Looking ahead

Advanced technologies like AI are helping us monitor ecosystem health in the Amazon, optimize energy use in Kenya, and drive sustainability efforts in communities around the world. In our recent Accelerating Sustainability with AI: Innovations for a Better Future report, we delve deeper into how these groundbreaking solutions are transforming industries and shaping positive change. As we move further into 2025 and beyond, we’re excited and hopeful that these advancements will play a key role in achieving global sustainability goals and creating lasting impact.