Microsoft's Carbon Emissions Rise 25% as Datacenter Expansion Accelerates
According to Microsoft's 2026 sustainability report, the company's carbon emissions rose 25 percent in 2025, reaching approximately 34 million metric tons without select interventions. This increase comes as the tech giant continues its rapid expansion of datacenter infrastructure to support cloud services and AI operations.
The report attributes the rise primarily to this infrastructure growth, along with a decision last February to stop purchasing "non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates." These certificates had previously allowed Microsoft to offset emissions through renewable energy purchases that may not have directly contributed new clean energy to the grid.
Microsoft has previously committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030—a goal that requires removing more carbon from the atmosphere than the company emits. The significant increase in emissions highlights the growing tension between expanding digital infrastructure and environmental commitments, a challenge facing many large tech companies as AI and cloud services drive unprecedented demand for computing power and physical infrastructure.