Advancing sustainability
Climate change requires swift, collective action and technological innovation. We’re committed to meeting our own goals while enabling others to do the same.
Our commitments
We aim to develop technology that is inclusive, trusted, and advances sustainability progress. In 2020, we announced our sustainability commitments and detailed plans for working toward a more sustainable future.
Carbon negative
By 2030, we’ll be carbon negative. By 2050, we’ll remove our historical emissions since our founding in 1975.
Zero waste
By 2030, we’ll be zero waste across our direct waste footprint.
Water positive
By 2030, we’ll replenish more water than we consume across our direct operations.
Protect and preserve ecosystems
By 2025, we’ll protect more land than we use.
Our progress
When we announced our climate commitments in January 2020, we also committed to transparency in sharing our learnings. We aspire to build a world better than the one we found.
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 acres by more than 40%. This is equivalent to over 9,000 soccer pitches.
"In the last year, the urgency of climate change has driven world leaders and experts to increase collaboration, with AI offering new opportunities to speed up the availability of climate solutions."
—Melanie Nakagawa, Corporate Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer, Microsoft
Featured stories
Take a deeper look at the stories behind our work to move towards a net zero, environmentally sustainable future.
Engineered wood slashes carbon emissions in new datacenters
3 ways AI is helping the planet
Using AI to help conserve drinking water
Our programs
We partner with organizations to provide grants and funding that help drive innovation and impact toward building a sustainable future.
Carbon removal
We look for solutions that have potential for positive impact, are transparent, and use market intelligence.
Carbon reduction
As we work to reduce the carbon intensity of our operations, we prioritize solutions that align with our sustainability goals.
Water replenishment
We see water replenishment, a key pillar of our 2030 water positive goal, as a way for our company to help restore and protect the water basins where we operate.
Climate Innovation Fund
We’re investing to accelerate new and existing climate technologies and solutions, focusing on climate impact, underfunded markets, climate equality, and shared alignment.
Sustainability products and solutions
As we continue to harness the power of data, AI, and technology to make responsible environmental decisions, we’re working to help our customers, partners, and suppliers around the world to do the same.
Our contributions
In addition to embedding science and sustainability into the way we do business, we believe that our greatest contributions to a sustainable future come from enabling our customers, partners, and suppliers on their own journeys.
Supply chain integrity
Microsoft works with hundreds of suppliers around the globe to help ensure transparency and ethical standards across our supply chain. We collaborate with them to protect the fundamental rights of people at every step of the process—from responsible sourcing to production and distribution.
Sustainability science and innovation
Our dedicated Sustainability Science and Innovation team works to help 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.
Latest news
Recent news and perspectives on today's pressing societal and tech issues from Microsoft.
Accelerating Sustainability with AI: Innovations for a Better Future
Advancing biodiversity with AI
Accelerating AI opportunity and climate solutions in Africa
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Pursuant to California Assembly Bill No. 1305 (the “law” or “AB 1305”), which was signed into law October 7, 2023, Microsoft may be required to make certain disclosures regarding its involvement in the voluntary carbon offset 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 AB 1305, we will promptly determine the scope of those obligations and comply with those obligations no later than January 1, 2025.
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