Microsoft to neutralize Xbox console carbon footprint

Microsoft has greenlit environmental initiatives to significantly cut down on its carbon footprint, especially when it comes to console hardware manufacturing.

Xbox is one of the many games industry forces who joined the United Nations' new Playing for the Planet Alliance, which pledges to reduce environmental waste and climate change by altering manufacturing processes.

Microsoft is doing its part by making 850,000 Xbox consoles completely carbon neutral, but only in a test program. We could see all mainstream Xbox consoles eliminate carbon waste while operating and during manufacturing in a few years time, and Microsoft aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030. The next-gen Project Scarlett system may even be carbon neutral when it launches in Holiday 2020, complete with lower energy consumption.

Sony is also putting emphasis on eliminating power waste and likewise joined the coalition.

The company announced its next-generation PlayStation 5 console will use less energy while suspended, effectively making it more efficient across the board. This is made possible by the system's new AMD-powered Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU combo, which is markedly more power efficient than the chips found in existing PS4s.