Microsoft's 2026 sustainability report indicates that the company's carbon emissions rose by 25 percent in 2025, reaching 34 million metric tons "without select interventions." The increase, attributed largely to the rapid expansion of its data centre infrastructure, suggests Microsoft is again struggling to meet its pledge to become carbon negative by 2030, a target that requires it to remove more carbon than it emits. The report also candidly acknowledges that sustainability solutions "are not scaling fast enough to meet demand" as AI drives up the need for energy, water, land and materials.

Alongside data centre growth, Microsoft cited its decision last February to stop buying "non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates" as a factor behind the rise. This is not the first such setback, as its 2024 report showed a similar increase in emissions. The trend is mirrored across the industry: Google reported a 25 percent jump in its supply chain emissions in its own 2026 report, while Amazon recorded a smaller 16 percent rise and separately disclosed that its data centres used 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025 — a figure it claims is lower than Microsoft's usage.