Microsoft remains “pragmatically optimistic” that it will meet its commitment from five years ago to become carbon negative by 2030, despite reporting a 23.4 percent cumulative increase in its total greenhouse gas emissions since that time.

That’s according to the company’s May 29 2025 environmental sustainability report, in which two of the tech giant’s senior executives describe that increase as “modest” compared with its 168 percent increase in energy use and 71 percent growth in revenue over the same time period.

“Microsoft remains steadfast in our dedication to achieving the company’s 2030 environmental sustainability commitments,” said President Brad Smith and Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa in a joint foreword.

Microsoft has promised to cut its emissions in half by 2030, compared with 2020, and to remove more carbon dioxide than it emits during that time frame. It has also promised to be water positive, achieve zero waste and protect ecosystems.

The company doesn’t have a corporate net-zero commitment, as defined by the Science Based Targets initiative, the de facto standards setter. It was one of nearly 250 well-known companies to have its “target removed” in spring 2024, after failing to submit a plan that would meet SBTi’s standard. “We remain engaged with SBTi and hope this entity involves practitioner feedback more comprehensively going forward while maintaining a robust governance process and remaining in close coordination with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol updates,” the company said in a statement responding to questions from Trellis.

Pragmatic optimism explained

Microsoft does have near-term SBTi goals: to cut the emissions intensity for its Scope 3 footprint from things such as productions and use of its products by 30 percent as a percentage of revenue compared with a 2017 baseline year; to avoid an absolute growth in Scope 3, which accounted for 97.3 percent of its footprint in FY2024; and to source 100 percent renewable electricity. 

So far, it has met just the last one, by procuring more than 34 gigawatts in carbon-free energy since 2020 — 19 in 2024 alone. 

The company’s confidence comes from its long experience in creating entirely new markets, Nakagawa said during an interview. Microsoft, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, is spending billions to make sustainability a core value. Among other things, it’s buying low-carbon steel, concrete and construction materials. It has allocated more than $793 million for new climate technologies and is now the largest single buyer of carbon removal credits, worth more than 30 million metric tons.

Those investments have helped cut Microsoft’s footprint from purchased energy and its own operations by 30 percent since 2020.

“We remain pragmatically optimistic, and over the next few years, we want to continue to scale these markets, not only to reach our goals and for our benefit, but frankly, for the world,” she said.

Signs of progress

Microsoft actually reported a modest 1.8 percent year-over-year decrease in its carbon footprint for its 2024 fiscal year, which ended June 30. The company disclosed total emissions of 14,857,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent compa