Microsoft emissions rise 30 percent due to AI

A growing focus on AI and cloud computing has resulted in Microsoft's carbon emissions increasing nearly 30 percent since 2020.

In its 2024 Environmental Sustainability Report, Microsoft says that its carbon dioxide emissions are up 29.1 percent from the 2020 baseline, and this is largely due to indirect emissions (Scope 3) from the construction and provisioning of more datacenters to meet customer demand for cloud services.

Over 96 percent of Microsoft’s total emissions are indirect (Scope 3), including those from its supply chain and the life cycle of its hardware and devices.

The report also revealed that the company's water consumption also increased significantly.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft aims to address its Scope 3 emissions problem by getting suppliers to use renewable energy, amongst other actions. But the figures are seen to make Microsoft's goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2030 more difficult to achieve.