Microsoft’s emissions have increased by 25% in the last year alone, as the tech giant ramps up construction on the data centres needed to fulfil its AI ambitions.
AI requires thousands of specialised, power-hungry chips (GPUs) running continuously in data centres that require huge amounts of energy to run, and thousands of litres of water to keep cool. Even during regular use, asking an AI chatbot a series of 10 to 50 questions can consume the equivalent of 500ml in data centre cooling.
In its latest sustainability report, Microsoft admitted: “Our total emissions (Scopes 1, 2, and 3) increased 25% year over year, driven primarily by the expansion of our data centre infrastructure and pausing our use of non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates as we prioritise investments that bring net new power to grids.”
In 2020, Microsoft set some highly ambitious climate pledges. This included being carbon negative by 2030, and removing from the environment all the carbon it has emitted since it was founded by 2050.
During the initial years after making the pledge, Microsoft made steady progress towards its goal with a shrinking carbon footprint. Between fiscal year 2020 and 2022, reported emissions declined from 16 million metric tons to 13 million metric tons. But since 2022, and the firm’s decision to embed Copilot across its software portfolio, total emissions have essentially doubled, reaching 34 million metric tons.
In the report’s foreword, Microsoft’s chief sustainability officer Melanie Nakagawa says the setback “does not mean we are lowering our ambition. We do not see these dynamics as a reason to step back. We see them as a mandate to lead differently.”
Nevertheless, the report conceded that AI infrastructure was driving up the firm’s demand for energy, water, land, and materials and that “sustainability solutions are not scaling fast enough to meet demand”.
It now looks extremely unlikely that Microsoft will meet its 2030 carbon negative goal. A coalition of over 50 environmental organisations published an open letter in May responding to reports that Microsoft was backtracking on its energy pledges.
They said: “Microsoft weighed their potential profits against a liveable climate, human health, and a cleaner future, and decided to throw everyday Americans under the bus. There’s a pathway where we can advance technology without tossing out decades of hard-won climate and community health progress.”