Immediately, Microsoft printed its 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report. This report covers our fiscal yr 2024, and measures progress towards our 2020 baseline. You’ll be able to learn the foreword beneath and discover the report in its entirety here.
As Microsoft continues to develop and innovate, our dedication to environmental sustainability stays a core worth. This yr, we mirror on our progress in direction of our formidable 2030 targets: to be carbon destructive, water constructive, and nil waste, whereas defending ecosystems. As we enter the second half of the last decade, Microsoft stays steadfast in our dedication to attaining the corporate’s 2030 environmental sustainability commitments.
Since we introduced our targets in 2020, now we have made significant progress whereas seeing main modifications in each the expertise sector and in our understanding of what it can take to satisfy our targets. We’re studying as we go, and we’re proactively working to handle sustainability challenges and speed up options. We stay resolute in our dedication not solely to assembly our local weather targets but additionally to empowering others with the expertise they should construct a extra sustainable future.
On the coronary heart of our strategy is an understanding that sustainability isn’t merely a set of remoted initiatives, however a basic precept that should be built-in into each facet of our enterprise. Our cross-company Local weather Council brings collectively leaders from throughout Microsoft to drive innovation, speed up progress, and establish methods to construct sustainability into our operations, merchandise, and partnerships.
We stay pragmatically optimistic due to the promise of recent sustainability applied sciences, improvements in AI, and market options which are rising which may speed up progress throughout difficult sectors like metal, concrete, and power transitions. This annual report is our alternative to share our learnings to assist speed up these markets, be clear about our progress, and discover how we will finally scale options throughout our worth chain.
We’re sharing particulars concerning the progress made in every of our core dedication areas: carbon destructive, water constructive, zero waste, and defending ecosystems. Our report additionally highlights a variety of our breakthrough improvements, drawing insights from the vanguard of local weather innovation.
Our progress
In 2020, Microsoft made daring sustainability commitments. At this midway level to our 2030 targets, we’re reaching key milestones and making progress that features:
- Ecosystems. In 2022, we met our goal of defending extra land than we use by 2025, a goal we’ve since exceeded by greater than 30%. AI innovation is now driving biodiversity conservation via analysis efforts led by the AI for Good Lab and instruments just like the Microsoft Planetary Pc.
- Zero waste. We exceeded our annual goal to divert 75% of building and demolition waste six years early by diverting 85% of this waste in FY24. We now have additionally surpassed our goal for our reuse and recycling charge for servers and parts, reaching 90.9%. The Floor Copilot+ PCs now characteristic our most sustainable packaging design but. Packaging from over 30,000 server racks was processed via recycling applications in FY24—diverting over 2,500 metric tons of waste from landfills.
- Water constructive. We met our goal to offer greater than 1.5 million folks with clear water and sanitation options. We’re additionally on observe to replenish extra water than we eat throughout world operations and enhance datacenter water use effectivity, together with via a brand new progressive datacenter design that optimizes AI workloads and consumes zero water for cooling to keep away from using an estimated 125,000 cubic meters yearly per facility.
- Carbon destructive. So far, now we have contracted 34 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free electrical energy (CFE) throughout 24 nations, about an eighteenfold improve since 2020. We now have additionally entered long-term agreements to obtain almost 30 million metric tons of carbon elimination for the reason that begin of this program.
Carbon destructive: a marathon, not a dash
As we stay centered on sustained progress in direction of our 2030 targets, it has grow to be clear that our journey in direction of being carbon destructive is a marathon, not a dash. Whereas our whole emissions (Scope 1, 2, and three) have elevated by 23.4% in comparison with our 2020 baseline as a consequence of growth-related components akin to AI and cloud growth, we’re inspired by the truth that this improve has been modest in comparison with the 168% improve in power use and 71% income development that has taken place over the identical interval.
For Microsoft to be carbon destructive by 2030, we might want to cut back our worth chain emissions. Beginning with our direct operational emissions, as we shared earlier this yr, since 2012 our carbon technique has included a mix of procuring environmental attributes leveraging our company carbon charge and total carbon emissions discount efforts. This enabled us to lower our Scope 1 and a couple of emissions by 29.9% from our 2020 baseline in FY24. On the similar time, as we shift away from procuring non-additional environmental attribute certificates, we acknowledge that we should additionally convey extra carbon-free electrical energy onto the grids the place we function.
We’re additionally implementing methods to scale back our Scope 3 emissions by 2030, which elevated in FY24 by 26% from our 2020 baseline. We’re prioritizing addressing these emissions via provider engagement applications together with establishing requirements by way of our Provider Code of Conduct. By means of the latter, choose large-scale Microsoft suppliers are required to transition to 100% carbon-free electrical energy for his or her delivered items and companies in addition to forthcoming steerage, launching in July, to focus on utilization of sustainable aviation gasoline, the place potential, for Microsoft business-related air journey by 2030. We additionally stay dedicated to growing and supporting progressive options to scale back emissions from key datacenter and operational inputs together with constructing supplies, chips, and fuels, specializing in long-term options over short-term stopgaps. To do that, now we have been adapting our methods to make use of new sustainability applied sciences and handle the challenges of increasing power demand.
We see vital progress in a number of key areas, demonstrating potential for world affect:
Powering operations with carbon-free electrical energy (CFE):
In 2024, Microsoft contracted 19 GW of recent renewable power throughout 16 nations via energy buy agreements (PPAs), that are central to our carbon discount technique, driving down our Scope 2 emissions. Microsoft has taken a first-mover strategy to creating long-term investments to convey extra CFE on-line.
We proceed to advocate for increasing clear power options globally to help not solely our energy wants but additionally these of our provide chain. We’re addressing challenges with allowing, interconnection delays, and fluctuating rates of interest by innovating via circularity and contracting. For instance, we signed groundbreaking PPAs with Engie requiring that 100% of photovoltaic modules might be reused or recycled.
Remodeling datacenters and campuses:
In FY24, we launched our first datacenters constructed with mass timber, a robust, ultra-lightweight wooden in a hybrid building mannequin. This strategy is projected to scale back the embodied carbon footprint of those new datacenters by as much as 65% in comparison with typical precast concrete. We additionally doubled our charge of energy financial savings and are transitioning from conventional air-cooled datacenters to chip-level liquid cooling designs in any respect owned datacenters. Because the World Financial Discussion board highlighted in Innovation and Adaptation within the Local weather Disaster, “Knowledge-driven and digital applied sciences are uniquely suited to construct adaptive capability.”
We imagine expertise could be a highly effective instrument to handle a few of society’s hardest challenges, together with environmental sustainability. As demand for AI and cloud companies grows, we’re advancing how we design, construct, and function our datacenters and campuses. Decarbonizing the constructed setting is an important ingredient on this course of.
Accelerating carbon elimination initiatives:
In FY24, Microsoft signed long-term agreements to obtain extra carbon elimination than all earlier years mixed, attaining almost 22 million metric tons in contracts for carbon elimination. We’re dedicated to serving to construct the markets we purchase from, translating main science into business innovation and usually updating our Standards for Excessive-High quality Carbon Dioxide Removing. We additionally know we can’t speed up this market alone, which is why we co-founded the Symbiosis Coalition with trade companions. The Symbiosis Coalition is focusing on as much as 20 million metric tons of high-quality, nature-based carbon elimination credit by 2030.
Enhancing operational effectivity and logistics:
In FY24, amongst services that manufacture units for Microsoft, we noticed a tenfold improve over the earlier yr in transitions to 100% CFE. This was achieved, partially, by partnering with 3Degrees to launch the Provider REach portal to help suppliers making their CFE transition. Our drive to scale back datacenter emissions extends to remodeling the logistics operations of those services.
By means of strategic partnerships and focused initiatives, Microsoft continues to scale back emissions throughout transportation, warehousing, and the broader logistics provide chain, setting new benchmarks for operational effectivity and environmental affect. We adopted various fuels and electrical autos to scale back emissions, collaborating with a number of main logistics service suppliers (LSPs).
Renewable diesel is now in use in our street freight operations in Europe and California, chopping emissions by 50% for these shipments whereas protecting present tools in use. We even have partnered with airways and transport traces to broaden using sustainable aviation and marine fuels. These efforts have decreased emissions by over 17,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, corresponding to avoiding the combustion of almost 40,000 barrels of oil.[1]
Accelerating world options
At Microsoft, we perceive that driving significant sustainability progress goes past our personal practices and requires world collaboration, funding, and innovation. Throughout our operations, we’re working to empower clients, construct impactful partnerships, and put money into breakthrough options that drive progress worldwide.
- Investing in innovation: A trademark of this effort has been our Local weather Innovation Fund (CIF)—our $1 billion dedication set in 2020 to advance innovation past Microsoft’s 4 partitions. So far, CIF has made vital investments in progressive local weather applied sciences together with business direct air seize applied sciences, sustainable aviation gasoline, industrial decarbonization, and extra. CIF has invested over $793 million in capital in new local weather applied sciences, increasing to 63 investments throughout CFE, sustainable fuels, carbon elimination, and superior constructing supplies.
- Empowering clients: We assist clients and organizations centralize, analyze, and act on their knowledge with AI-powered platforms for superior analytics and reporting insights. For instance, the Howden Resilience Laboratory supported by Microsoft and our Planetary Pc makes use of expertise and knowledge platforms to assist buyers perceive local weather dangers to crucial infrastructure, enhance resilience, and contribute to better-informed funding selections.
- Partnering for affect: Partnering to scale our affect is a crucial element of our sustainability efforts. Immediately GitHub fosters a thriving group that’s dwelling to over 150 million builders and 60,000 climate-focused open-source initiatives, advancing local weather expertise, greener software program, and machine sustainability. Xbox has made vital investments not solely to scale back the environmental footprint related to the manufacturing of our units, equipment, and console packaging, but additionally to scale back the power utilization of the console itself. For instance, Xbox grew to become the primary console to launch a devoted power consumption and carbon emissions measurement instrument designed for recreation creators.
- Accelerating AI for sustainability: Our AI for Good Lab, sustainability science, and analysis groups collaborate globally to speed up options and develop local weather resilience with AI. For instance, now we have partnered with the United Nations to use AI to local weather challenges via applications just like the Early Warnings for All initiative, which seeks to higher perceive which populations could also be prone to excessive climate occasions and different threats. By sharing our progress, instruments, and learnings with the world, we intention to speed up the tempo of innovation, enhance total operational effectivity, cut back power consumption, and discover new options with long-term outcomes.
Sustained momentum and future affect
There is no such thing as a challenge right this moment that connects everybody on the planet greater than local weather change. As we attempt to construct a extra sustainable future, we stay impressed by the dedication of our staff and companions and dedicated to transparency, accountability, and collaboration.
Whereas the street to a sustainable future is difficult and never linear, we’re inspired by the progress now we have made in FY24. By strategically specializing in CFE, carbon elimination, water stewardship, waste discount, and ecosystem safety, we’re constructing an environment friendly, sustainable engine that drives us nearer to our commitments.
We encourage you to learn additional to study extra about our progress and learnings throughout all of those areas, and we stay up for partaking in continued dialogue as we study and develop new methods to assist us meet our targets. We’ll proceed to adapt our methods, make the most of rising sustainability markets, and scale progressive applied sciences for even higher affect.
We acknowledge that attaining our formidable targets requires sustained momentum, and we’re devoted to driving that momentum ahead.
[1] This estimate is calculated primarily based on the EPA estimate of the standard passenger automobile emitting 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide per yr.
