Advance sustainability
Our commitments
Carbon negative
By 2030, we’ll be carbon negative, and by 2050, we’ll remove our historical emissions since our founding in 1975.
Water positive
By 2030, we’ll replenish more water than we consume across our direct operations.
Zero waste
By 2030, we’ll be zero waste across our direct waste footprint.
Protect and preserve ecosystems
We’ll protect more land than we use by 2025 and build a Planetary Computer.
2024 Environmental Sustainability Report
Our progress
Investing in renewable energy
In FY23, we invested in over 23.6 million MWH of renewable energy. This would be enough to power Paris with renewable electricity for about two years.
Replenishing water used
Since the program’s inception, we’ve contracted 61.7 million m3 total volumetric water replenishment benefits. This is enough water to fill over 24,000 Olympic sized swimming pools.
Reducing waste
In FY23, we diverted 18,537 metric tons of solid waste from landfills and incineration across our owned datacenters and campuses. This is equivalent to the weight of over 45 commercial passenger jets.
Protecting more land than we use
We protected 15,849 total acres of land— exceeding our land protection target of 11,000 by more than 40 percent. This is equivalent to over 9,000 soccer pitches.
Feature stories
Accelerating sustainability with AI
Organizations worldwide are working toward meeting their own sustainability objectives, but progress is slow. Our 5-point playbook outlines what is needed to ensure that AI delivers on its potential as an accelerator for sustainability solutions.
Laying the foundation for buildings of tomorrow
Embodied carbon is responsible for 8% of global GHG, yet reducing or eliminating embodied carbon from concrete and steel is difficult. Microsoft is piloting new concrete mixes at our Quincy, WA datacenter, with a goal to lower embodied carbon in concrete by more than 50%.
Navigating the challenges of water replenishment
Water replenishment will play an important role in protecting watersheds across the globe. In a new white paper, we’ve outlined learnings from our replenishment program, hoping that it will help others navigate the challenges of this nascent market.
“While the world will need to reach net zero, those of us who can afford to move faster and go further should do so.”
Our contributions
Planetary Computer
The Planetary Computer combines a multi-petabyte collection of global environmental data with user-friendly APIs, a flexible scientific environment that enables users to respond to global queries about that data, and applications that provide conservation stakeholders access to those answers.
Supply chain integrity
Microsoft has relationships with hundreds of suppliers around the globe, and we work to ensure transparency and ethical standards across our supply chain. We collaborate with our suppliers to protect the fundamental rights of people at every step of the process—from responsible sourcing to production and distribution.
Sustainability science and innovation
At Microsoft, we have a dedicated Sustainability Science and Innovation team whose mission is to ensure that our sustainability work is grounded in the best available science. This drives our work in sustainability, from our climate commitments to partnering with our customers and partners on co-designing new solutions.
Microsoft Climate Research Initiative
Accelerating cutting-edge research in climate science and technology is a priority for this multidisciplinary community of researchers.
Microsoft sustainability programs
Carbon removal
We are dedicated to finding solutions that have the greatest potential for positive impact, are transparent, and use market intelligence as one of the first businesses to source carbon removal to meet our goal of eliminating carbon emissions by 2050.
Carbon reduction
As we work to reduce the carbon intensity of our operations, we prioritize solutions that align with our sustainability goals.
Water replenishment
Water replenishment is a key pillar of our 2030 water positive goal. We see replenishment as a way for our company to help restore and protect the water basins where we operate.
Climate Innovation Fund
We're pledging $1 billion in funding over four years to invest in cutting-edge climate technologies and hasten the implementation of already-existing climate solutions. Climate impact, underfunded markets, climate equality, and shared alignment are the four themes that guide our investments.
Sustainability products & solutions
Your sustainability journey
Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability
Through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) capabilities, the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability enables you to accelerate development and transform your company.
Emissions Impact Dashboard
Make better data-driven decisions about your cloud usage by estimating your carbon emissions using Microsoft cloud services, such as Azure and Microsoft 365.
Latest news
Reviewing our progress and sharing our learnings
Since 2020, we’ve seen major changes both in the technology sector and in our understanding of what it will take to meet our collective climate goals. We remain resolute in our commitment to address our own climate impact, and to empower others with the technology needed to build a more sustainable future.
Sustainable by design
Alongside the benefits of AI, we recognize the resource intensity and the need to address the environmental impact from every angle. We’re determined to tackle this challenge so the world can harness the full benefits of AI and we're sharing the three areas where we’re deeply invested and increasing our focus.
The journey to water positive
We set an ambitious commitment in 2020 to be water positive and co-founded the Water Resilience Coalition (WRC), a CEO-led initiative to reduce water stress by 2050. We're building on this foundation with the WRC and signing an Open Call for Water Action to accelerate the collective impact businesses can have in building greater water resilience.
Xbox offers first carbon aware console
Xbox is now the first gaming console to offer carbon aware game downloads and updates. By being carbon aware, Xbox consoles are reducing their carbon footprints by optimizing updates and downloads to run at a time when each console can use the most renewable energy.
View more of our commitments
Expand opportunity
Earn trust
Protect fundamental rights
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Pursuant to California Assembly Bill No. 1305 (the “law” or “1305”), which was signed into law October 7, 2023, Microsoft may be required to make certain disclosures regarding its involvement in the voluntary carbon offsets markets, use of voluntary carbon offsets, and/or certain claims or goals regarding greenhouse gas emissions reductions. While the law itself does not specify a deadline for initial disclosures, the bill’s author has indicated that his intent was that the deadline for companies’ first annual disclosure under the law should be considered to be January 1, 2025. Microsoft is in the process of determining the scope of our potential reporting obligations under this law. We take our sustainability commitments and disclosure obligations seriously, and should we determine that we have reporting obligations under 1305, we will promptly determine the scope of those obligations and comply with those obligations no later than January 1, 2025.
