On Friday, Microsoft published its 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, revealing that the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions increased by 25% during fiscal year 2025 compared with the previous year, largely due to the continued expansion of artificial intelligence technologies.
The technology giant attributed the rise in emissions to the expansion of its data center infrastructure, as well as its decision to discontinue the use of unbundled renewable energy certificates that are not tied to specific renewable energy projects. Microsoft reported that Scope 2 emissions increased from 2% of its total emissions in the previous fiscal year to 13% in fiscal year 2025.
Microsoft acknowledged that AI is “driving demand for energy, water, land, and materials,” while “sustainability solutions are not scaling quickly enough to meet that demand.” Nevertheless, the company stated that the tension between these two realities is “productive.
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