Microsoft and Shell have just announced a partnership to work together to use technology and artificial intelligence to help them address their emissions challenges, reduce CO2, and transition towards the use of renewable energy.

1. Microsoft And Shell
Announce New Partnership
To Use Artificial Intelligence
To Reduce Carbon Emissions
And Tech

2. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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Microsoft and Shell have just announced a partnership to work together to use
technology and artificial intelligence to help them address their emissions challenges,
reduce CO2, and transition towards the use of renewable energy.
Tackling carbon emissions is one of the biggest challenges faced by the world today. For
big business, this means making a strategic and managed move towards increasing the
use of renewable energy sources, as well as creating efficiencies across all aspects of
their operations.
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership
To Use Artificial Intelligence And Tech To Reduce
Carbon Emissions

3. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership To Use Artificial
Intelligence And Tech To Reduce Carbon Emissions
It’s a difficult task to manage alone, even for an enterprise on the scale of tech giant
Microsoft or energy titan Shell. But working together creates new possibilities that go
further than what it is likely they could accomplish individually. Beyond meeting their own
zero-carbon commitments, there's the opportunity to help other companies within their
vast ecosystems of customers and suppliers to meet their environmental and safety goals,
too.
This was the topic of a conversation I had this week with Judson Althoff, Microsoft’s
executive vice president for worldwide commercial business, and Huibert Vigeveno,
downstream director at Shell.
We spoke to mark the announcement of a major partnership between the two companies,
with the aim of combining Shell’s expertise in clean and efficient energy creation with
Microsoft’s expertise in cutting-edge technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud
computing, and the internet of things (IoT).

4. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership To Use Artificial
Intelligence And Tech To Reduce Carbon Emissions
This has resulted in a number of initiatives to reduce carbon footprints - including helping
Microsoft to meet its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2025, as well as to
develop safer and cleaner working environments.
Althoff told me, "When we made those commitments, it was pretty clear that we wouldn't
be able to do it by ourselves, and quite frankly, we were reliant on technology that didn't
exist at the time.
“What we’re excited about with this announcement is that the tech and innovation
partnership with Shell will help us get there.”
Projects so far launched have involved Microsoft AI specialists teaming with Shell data
scientists to probe areas of operation where cooperation is likely to have the deepest
impact. This has led to the development of 47 separate applications designed to reduce
the carbon footprint of the business of energy production.

5. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership To Use Artificial
Intelligence And Tech To Reduce Carbon Emissions
The data storage and compute workload is handled through Microsoft’s Azure platform,
so insights and efficiencies gained in one area of operation can be put to work to benefit
any other area. This has included building “digital twin” functionality to create a simulated,
virtual model of the entire energy generation process. As well as optimizing their own
operations, the solutions will also be offered as a service to any other organization they
work with that might benefit from them.
Althoff describes the concept of building the digital twin in terms of putting a “sensor
fabric” across all areas of Shell’s operations – a fabric that has so far collected over 10
billion rows of measurements and observations.
One operation approached in this manner was Shell’s production and distribution of
liquified natural gas. Real-time models are created that allow AI algorithms to accurately
compute the most efficient adjustments that can be made to operating parameters in
order to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted during the process. This allows research and
experimentation that would take years to be carried out at a vastly accelerated pace in the
digital world.

6. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership To Use Artificial
Intelligence And Tech To Reduce Carbon Emissions
Another application monitors and records the corrosion rate of protective equipment used
by workers involved with hazardous environments and materials, allowing them to be
replaced in an efficient manner and improving on-site safety. As with the applications
driving efficiency in liquified natural gas production, this leverages machine learning and
cognitive computing technology.
As Vigeveno put it to me, "I think it's fair to say that both of our organizations have very
bold climate ambitions. We both want to be net-zero, but collectively we believe we can
really play a role in the energy transition.
"This is not something you can do alone, but you really need to do with partners and
going sector by sector. So, this [partnership] will not just bring value to our own
organizations but to our customers around the world.”
Even within their own operations, though, the scope for driving positive change is
immense, with Shell operating 45,000 retail points across the world servicing 30 million
customers each day, and Microsoft's Windows 10 software installed on over a billion
devices.

7. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership To Use Artificial
Intelligence And Tech To Reduce Carbon Emissions
But it is by expanding the use of these applications to suppliers, customers, and other
partners that the biggest benefits are likely to be seen.
Vigeveno told me, "The ambition at both of our companies is really to help the world
decarbonize, and we both realize that it's really the decarbonization of our customers that
will let us fulfill those ambitions."
The aim is to roll out the technology on a sector-by-sector basis, recognizing that while it
may serve customers in industries from aviation to zoos, the needs of specific industries
will be very different, as will the opportunities for creating change, efficiency, and safety
improvements.
Clearly, Shell has been a technology-driven company from day one. Breakthroughs in
exploration and drilling were the foundation of its business over a hundred years back. But
partnering with a business whose whole core function is the provision of technology, like
Microsoft, gives it access to expertise and world-class infrastructure across all fields of
information technology. Its ability to leverage AI, cloud computing, and the sensor-rich
environment created by IoT, in particular, is of huge value to the energy giant.

8. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Microsoft And Shell Announce New Partnership To Use Artificial
Intelligence And Tech To Reduce Carbon Emissions
Likewise, Microsoft will help meet its own emission targets as well as lower the operating
costs of its global network of data centers and processing facilities, by collaborating with
Shell on implementing renewables other efficiency-driving changes into its operations.

9. Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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