Microsoft reported a 25% rise in total greenhouse gas emissions for fiscal year 2025, reaching 34 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. The increase is tied to rapid data center expansion for AI workloads and a shift away from short term renewable energy certificates. Net emissions after carbon removal credits hit 20 million metric tons, up from 16 million the prior year. The company still aims for carbon negativity by 2030 but now has only four years to reverse the trend. Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity jumped to 13% of Microsoft's total footprint from roughly 2% the year before. Microsoft matched 100% of its electricity use with renewable energy and holds 40 gigawatts of clean power purchase agreements across 26 countries. But a deal with Chevron for a new natural gas plant in West Texas to power a data center campus has drawn scrutiny. The report shows how hard it is to scale clean energy fast enough to keep up with AI infrastructure growth.
