Microsoft's Carbon Emissions Rose 25% Last Year as AI Buildout Outpaces Climate Goals

The Verge·medium signal

Microsoft's 2026 sustainability report shows carbon emissions climbed 25% year over year, putting the company further behind its own carbon-negative-by-2030 commitment. The increase tracks datacenter expansion for AI training and inference, the same capex wave driving nuclear restarts and grid strain. Every enterprise now writing an AI sustainability policy is doing so against a hyperscaler that cannot hit its own.