Microsoft Silent on Green Group's Device Repairability Proposal

Microsoft has nothing “to share at this time,” emailed a spokesperson Friday, on the As You Sow shareholder proposal filed last week urging the Microsoft board to weigh relaxing the company’s restrictions on third-party device repair (see 2106240054). The spokesperson referenced what he called a “relevant section” of Microsoft’s 2020 Environmental Sustainability Report in which it committed to reducing “as much waste as we create across our direct operations,” and becoming “zero waste” by 2030, including by making all Surface tablets and laptops “fully recyclable.” The report is silent on boosting device repairability as a means of keeping discarded electronics out of the e-waste stream. Microsoft “actively restricts consumer access to device repairability, undermining our sustainability commitments,” said the As You Sow proposal.