Microsoft carbon emissions rose 25% in 2025, totalling 34M t

Microsoft's carbon emissions rose 25 percent in 2025, totalling 34 million metric tons "without select interventions." The company attributes the jump primarily to the expansion of its datacenter infrastructure and to a decision last February to stop purchasing "non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates."

How much did Microsoft’s emissions rise in 2025?

Microsoft's emissions increased 25 percent year over year, reaching 34 million metric tons in 2025, a figure presented in its 2026 sustainability report. The report frames that total as occurring "without select interventions," signalling the company is treating some mitigation actions as outside the baseline number.

The 25 percent rise follows a similar uptick noted in Microsoft’s 2024 sustainability report. The company has previously set a goal to be carbon negative by 2030, a target now challenged by these recurring increases.

Why did emissions increase?

The report pins the increase mainly on datacenter growth and a policy change on renewable energy certificates. Microsoft says the rise was "driven primarily by the expansion of our datacenter infrastructure," and it also cites its decision last February to stop buying non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates as a contributing factor.

The report also warns that AI demand is stressing sustainability capacity. "While AI infrastructure is driving demand for energy, water, land, and materials, sustainability solutions are not scaling fast enough to meet demand," the company wrote, linking the emissions increase to the rapid buildout required to support AI workloads.

How does Microsoft compare with Google and Amazon?

Google reported a 25 percent spike in supply chain emissions in its 2026 sustainability report, while Amazon reported a 16 percent increase in emissions. Amazon also disclosed that its data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, and Amazon says that is less than Microsoft used that year.

Microsoft provided the concrete emissions total of 34 million metric tons for 2025. Google and Amazon were cited by percentage changes in their reports, with Google matching Microsoft’s 25 percent jump and Amazon showing a smaller 16 percent rise.

Why it matters

The figures show AI growth is taxing the environmental commitments of major cloud providers. Microsoft’s carbon negative by 2030 goal requires removing more emissions than it produces, yet the company has now recorded repeated increases in climate pollution. Datacenter expansion to service AI workloads is raising demands on energy and water while current sustainability measures have not scaled to compensate, a gap the company itself highlights.

Investors, customers, and regulators track these numbers because they affect corporate climate targets and the perceived credibility of long-term pledges. If infrastructure growth continues to outpace mitigation, companies will need new levers—different procurement strategies, faster deployment of additional renewables, or more aggressive carbon removal—to stay on declared paths.

What to watch

Watch whether Microsoft reverses the decision on non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates or announces new, additional clean energy purchases tied to datacenter growth. Also monitor future sustainability reports from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon for updated totals and any new mitigation commitments, and for specific disclosures about water use where Amazon and Microsoft have begun to compare figures.