Microsoft greenhouse gas emissions rose 27% during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Total emissions jumped from 16.7 million to 21.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The 2026 Environmental Data Fact Sheet attributes this increase to rapid infrastructure expansion for artificial intelligence.
Emissions intensity, or pollution per dollar of revenue, increased for the first time in at least six years. Surging electricity consumption for data centers primarily drove the spike. This follows similar emission increases recently reported by Google and Amazon.
Microsoft acknowledged that AI and cloud service growth must be balanced with environmental responsibility.