The new Microsoft sustainability report, published at the end of last week, shows how a heavy carbon economy can weigh on a company that wants to be carbon light.
Since 2020, their carbon emissions have increased by 23.4%, mainly as a result of vertiginous spills Construction of the Data Center to support their growing cloud operations and AI. Buying enough clean electricity is actually the easy part: it is the facilities in themselves that are loaded with carbon intensive materials and products, including steel, concrete and computer chips.
“We reflect the challenges that the world must overcome to develop and use greener concrete, steel, fuels and chips,” said a Microsoft spokesman for TechCrunch by email. “These are the biggest drivers of our challenges of scope 3”.
Scope emissions 3 are those outside the direct control of a company, including raw materials, transport and goods and services bought. Emissions in scope 3 represent almost the entire Microsoft carbon footprint, just over 97% for fiscal year 2024, which covers the 2025 sustainability report.
Microsoft Surpope 3 profile is dominated by capital goods and bought goods and services, and the two contribute approximately three quarters of the company’s total carbon emissions.
The construction of data centers has been the main driver behind the stubborn Microsoft Scope 3 emissions. The steel used in buildings comes from a supply chain that is based on heated ovens with fossil fuels, and the concrete used in the base is the product of a chemical reaction that works and is a carbon dioxide producer. Some startups are working to decarbonize both steel and cementand Microsoft is An inverter In space, but it will be years before these bets will have a significant impact.
Carbon emissions are also incorporated into the computer chips into the data center. Semiconductor lithography depends on chemicals that have an extremely high global heating potential. For example, hexafluoroetano, which is used to record characteristics in chips, is a powerful greenhouse gas, with 1 ton generating both heating and 9,200 tons carbon dioxide.
Even in green electricity, which is easier to find, obstacles have appeared since data centers are not always built, almost abundant sources of clean energy. Because of that, Microsoft has had difficulties in finding nearby sources of zero carbon electricity, which forces it to trust purchases elsewhere. “Our electricity consumption has grown faster than the networks where we operate have decarbonized,” said the spokesman.
In general, Microsoft’s 2024 broadcasts were slightly reduced with 2023, suggesting that the company is improving in the construction of data centers with lower climatic impacts. Even so, it has a long way to go to meet its 2030 goal to eliminate more carbon contamination it generates. By its own forecast, Microsoft will have to reduce its emissions in more than half, while significantly increases its carbon removal efforts.
There are signs that Microsoft is moving on both fronts. Has been one of the main investors in and buyers of Solar energy in recent months, and its zero carbon electricity portfolio is now 34 capacity gigawatts. In addition, you have recently signed some very big Agreements that promise to eliminate millions of carbon metric tons.
However, 2030 is just a few years away, and the company’s impulse towards AI and the cloud can be profitable, but it has caused its sustainability goals to be much more difficult.