As we speak, Microsoft printed its 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report. This report covers our fiscal 12 months 2024, and measures progress towards our 2020 baseline. You possibly can learn the foreword under 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 12 months, we mirror on our progress in direction of our formidable 2030 targets: to be carbon unfavourable, 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, we’ve made significant progress whereas seeing main modifications in each the expertise sector and in our understanding of what it would 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 in addition 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 just isn’t merely a set of remoted initiatives, however a elementary precept that have to be built-in into each side 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 latest sustainability applied sciences, improvements in AI, and market options which can be rising which might speed up progress throughout difficult sectors like metal, concrete, and vitality 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 in regards to the progress made in every of our core dedication areas: carbon unfavourable, water constructive, zero waste, and defending ecosystems. Our report additionally highlights a lot 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 by 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 have now additionally surpassed our goal for our reuse and recycling charge for servers and parts, reaching 90.9%. The Floor Copilot+ PCs now function our most sustainable packaging design but. Packaging from over 30,000 server racks was processed by recycling applications in FY24—diverting over 2,500 metric tons of waste from landfills.
- Water constructive. We met our goal to supply greater than 1.5 million individuals with clear water and sanitation options. We’re additionally on monitor to replenish extra water than we eat throughout international operations and enhance datacenter water use effectivity, together with by a brand new modern datacenter design that optimizes AI workloads and consumes zero water for cooling to keep away from the usage of an estimated 125,000 cubic meters yearly per facility.
- Carbon unfavourable. Thus far, we’ve contracted 34 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free electrical energy (CFE) throughout 24 nations, about an eighteenfold enhance since 2020. We have now additionally entered long-term agreements to acquire almost 30 million metric tons of carbon removing for the reason that begin of this program.
Carbon unfavourable: a marathon, not a dash
As we stay targeted on sustained progress in direction of our 2030 targets, it has turn into clear that our journey in direction of being carbon unfavourable is a marathon, not a dash. Whereas our complete emissions (Scope 1, 2, and three) have elevated by 23.4% in comparison with our 2020 baseline attributable to growth-related components similar to AI and cloud enlargement, we’re inspired by the truth that this enhance has been modest in comparison with the 168% enhance in vitality use and 71% income development that has taken place over the identical interval.
For Microsoft to be carbon unfavourable by 2030, we might want to scale back our worth chain emissions. Beginning with our direct operational emissions, as we shared earlier this 12 months, since 2012 our carbon technique has included a mixture of procuring environmental attributes leveraging our company carbon price and total carbon emissions discount efforts. This enabled us to lower our Scope 1 and a pair 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 deliver extra carbon-free electrical energy onto the grids the place we function.
We’re additionally implementing methods to cut back our Scope 3 emissions by 2030, which elevated in FY24 by 26% from our 2020 baseline. We’re prioritizing addressing these emissions by provider engagement applications together with establishing requirements through our Provider Code of Conduct. By way 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 steering, launching in July, to focus on utilization of sustainable aviation gasoline, the place attainable, for Microsoft business-related air journey by 2030. We additionally stay dedicated to growing and supporting modern options to cut 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, we’ve been adapting our methods to make use of new sustainability applied sciences and handle the challenges of increasing vitality demand.
We see vital progress in a number of key areas, demonstrating potential for international impression:
Powering operations with carbon-free electrical energy (CFE):
In 2024, Microsoft contracted 19 GW of latest renewable vitality throughout 16 nations by 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 deliver extra CFE on-line.
We proceed to advocate for increasing clear vitality options globally to assist not solely our energy wants but in addition these of our provide chain. We’re addressing challenges with allowing, interconnection delays, and fluctuating rates of interest by innovating by 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 powerful, ultra-lightweight wooden in a hybrid building mannequin. This strategy is projected to cut 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 generally is 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 surroundings is an important factor on this course of.
Accelerating carbon removing initiatives:
In FY24, Microsoft signed long-term agreements to acquire extra carbon removing than all earlier years mixed, attaining almost 22 million metric tons in contracts for carbon removing. We’re dedicated to serving to construct the markets we purchase from, translating main science into industrial innovation and frequently updating our Standards for Excessive-High quality Carbon Dioxide Elimination. We additionally know we can not speed up this market alone, which is why we co-founded the Symbiosis Coalition with business companions. The Symbiosis Coalition is concentrating on as much as 20 million metric tons of high-quality, nature-based carbon removing credit by 2030.
Bettering operational effectivity and logistics:
In FY24, amongst services that manufacture units for Microsoft, we noticed a tenfold enhance over the earlier 12 months in transitions to 100% CFE. This was completed, partially, by partnering with 3Degrees to launch the Provider REach portal to assist suppliers making their CFE transition. Our drive to cut back datacenter emissions extends to remodeling the logistics operations of those services.
By way of strategic partnerships and focused initiatives, Microsoft continues to cut back emissions throughout transportation, warehousing, and the broader logistics provide chain, setting new benchmarks for operational effectivity and environmental impression. We adopted different fuels and electrical automobiles to cut 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, slicing emissions by 50% for these shipments whereas holding present tools in use. We even have partnered with airways and transport traces to increase the usage of sustainable aviation and marine fuels. These efforts have decreased emissions by over 17,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, akin to avoiding the combustion of almost 40,000 barrels of oil.[1]
Accelerating international options
At Microsoft, we perceive that driving significant sustainability progress goes past our personal practices and requires international collaboration, funding, and innovation. Throughout our operations, we’re working to empower prospects, 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. Thus far, CIF has made vital investments in modern local weather applied sciences together with industrial 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 removing, and superior constructing supplies.
- Empowering prospects: We assist prospects 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 traders perceive local weather dangers to important infrastructure, enhance resilience, and contribute to better-informed funding selections.
- Partnering for impression: Partnering to scale our impression is a important part of our sustainability efforts. As we speak GitHub fosters a thriving group that’s residence to over 150 million builders and 60,000 climate-focused open-source tasks, advancing local weather expertise, greener software program, and machine sustainability. Xbox has made vital investments not solely to cut back the environmental footprint related to the manufacturing of our units, equipment, and console packaging, but in addition to cut back the vitality utilization of the console itself. For instance, Xbox turned the primary console to launch a devoted vitality consumption and carbon emissions measurement instrument designed for sport 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, we’ve partnered with the United Nations to use AI to local weather challenges by 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 goal to speed up the tempo of innovation, enhance total operational effectivity, scale back vitality consumption, and discover new options with long-term outcomes.
Sustained momentum and future impression
There isn’t any difficulty at present that connects everybody on the planet greater than local weather change. As we try 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 we’ve made in FY24. By strategically specializing in CFE, carbon removing, 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 be taught extra about our progress and learnings throughout all of those areas, and we stay up for partaking in continued dialogue as we be taught 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 modern applied sciences for even higher impression.
We acknowledge that attaining our formidable targets requires sustained momentum, and we’re devoted to driving that momentum ahead.
[1] This estimate is calculated based mostly on the EPA estimate of the everyday passenger car emitting 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide per 12 months.