Microsoft is weighing whether to delay or abandon one of its 2030 clean energy targets as it expands data centre capacity for AI and cloud services, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The target, announced in 2021 and known as 100/100/0, aims to match 100% of Microsoft’s electricity use, 100% of the time, with zero-carbon energy purchases. It applies on an hourly basis and in the same power grids from which the company draws electricity.
The target requires more than annual renewable energy matching. Under annual matching, a company buys enough renewable power over a year to cover its total electricity use. Microsoft’s 100/100/0 target requires zero-carbon power to be available at the same time and in the same grid region where electricity is consumed.
Microsoft has already met its annual renewable energy matching target, according to the report. The current discussions centre on whether the hourly commitment can still be met as AI infrastructure spending increases.
The discussions are ongoing, and no final decision has been made. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company continues to look for opportunities to maintain an annual matching goal, without commenting directly on the hourly commitment.
The company has pointed to recent clean energy procurement as part of its wider energy strategy. Microsoft cited agreements with We Energies for 1.2 gigawatts of carbon-free energy projects in Wisconsin. The projects include solar and battery facilities expected to begin coming online in December 2028.
AI raises energy use
Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are all investing in data centres to support AI and cloud services. Microsoft’s infrastructure spending supports products including Azure and Copilot.
Microsoft’s 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report said its total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions increased 23.4% from its 2020 baseline. The company cited “growth-related factors like AI and cloud expansion” as contributors to the increase.
Microsoft also said its energy use rose 168% over the same period, while revenue grew 71%.
Other large technology companies have also reported higher emissions. According to the report, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft recorded emissions increases compared with benchmarks before ChatGPT’s release in late 2022. The increases were 64%, 51%, 33%, and 23%, respectively.
Some new data centre projects being developed by technology companies are expected to require several gigawatts of capacity. One gigawatt is roughly enough to power 750,000 homes in the US.
Microsoft has said it is adding about one gigawatt of data centre capacity every three months, according to the report.
Power demand rises
BloombergNEF (Bloomberg‘s research consultancy) expects US data centre power demand to rise from 34.7 gigawatts in 2024 to 106 gigawatts by 2035.
The International Energy Agency projects global data centre electricity consumption to rise from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030. Recent power agreements by cloud and AI infrastructure operators have covered several energy sources.
Microsoft signed a power agreement with Constellation Energy in 2024 to support the restart of a unit at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. The agreement is tied to Microsoft’s energy needs for AI and cloud infrastructure.
Natural gas is included in some data centre power plans. Microsoft held talks this year with Chevron to fund a major natural gas plant in the West Texas Permian Basin, the report said.
More than 20GW of behind-the-meter power projects for data centres were announced in Texas in 2024 and 2025, with a further 10GW announced from January to April 2026, according to Reuters. Behind-the-meter power refers to generation built near, or directly connected to, a customer’s site not supplied through the wider grid. In data centre projects, it can include gas-fired generation and renewable power used to support large electricity loads.
Some behind-the-meter projects combine gas-fired generation with batteries or renewable sources, according to Reuters. BloombergNEF has tracked 4.9 gigawatts of energy storage announcements co-located with on-site fossil fuel generation at data centres.
Spending comes under review
Microsoft expects to spend US$190 billion through the end of December, largely on data centres, according to the report.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that those costs have led to tighter budgets in some divisions. That includes teams focused on reducing Microsoft’s carbon footprint. Clean energy projects are receiving more financial scrutiny as AI infrastructure spending rises, according to the report.
Bloomberg also reported that Microsoft had pulled back on parts of its carbon dioxide removal programme, raising concerns in the carbon removal market.
Microsoft has not announced any change to its 2030 clean energy target.
(Photo by Simon Ray)
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