Microsoft Poised to Abandon Climate & Community Goals in Race to Build AI Data Centers
WASHINGTON — Microsoft is considering abandoning its flagship 2030 clean energy commitment which pledged to match 100% of its electricity consumption with zero-carbon energy, according to reports. Once a leader in sustainability, the company says the explosive growth of AI data centers has made the voluntary climate target financially and logistically difficult to meet.
In response, Clara Vondrich, senior policy counsel with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“Microsoft’s expected walkback of its best-in-class 100% renewable energy target would be just the latest evidence that Big Tech is Big Oil‘s number one accomplice. The insatiable energy appetite of AI data centers could be an opportunity to hasten a clean energy renaissance. Instead, companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are plummeting to the lowest common denominator—fossil gas.
“If this occurs, not only would it double down on the dirty energy climate disaster, but would create a public health emergency for kids and elders who live in areas where the newly ‘necessary’ gas plants will be sited. Microsoft promised to be a ‘good neighbor’ to communities, and to ‘design and operate [its] datacenters to support society’s climate goals.’ Microsoft also has another dirty secret. It’s the leading provider of AI tools to the fossil fuel industry, allowing it to find and dig up more oil, faster.”
“Today’s news makes clear that we can’t trust Big Tech to watch its own henhouse. Voluntary commitments are here today, gone tomorrow. We need leaders in government to write the rules and enforce them without fear or favor. In the meantime, unless Microsoft reverses course and recommits to its goals, it will go down with Big Oil on the wrong side of history.”
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