Microsoft just declared victory on a promise it made five years ago. The company announced it's hit 100% renewable energy matching for all global operations, backed by what it calls one of the world's largest clean energy portfolios - 40 gigawatts of contracted renewable capacity spanning 26 countries. What started as a single 110-megawatt Texas wind farm deal in 2013 has mushroomed into 400-plus contracts with 95 utilities and developers, slashing the company's reported Scope 2 emissions by an estimated 25 million tons since 2020. But as Microsoft's AI-driven cloud infrastructure continues its explosive growth, the real test lies ahead: transitioning from renewable energy credits to round-the-clock carbon-free power.
Microsoft is rewriting the playbook on corporate clean energy procurement, and the numbers tell a story of scale that few companies can match. The tech giant announced Tuesday it's achieved 100% renewable energy matching for its global operations - a milestone it set back in 2020 as part of its moonshot pledge to go carbon negative by 2030. Behind that achievement sits a sprawling portfolio of 40 gigawatts of contracted renewable capacity, spread across 26 countries through more than 400 separate deals.
It's a remarkable acceleration from humble beginnings. Back in 2013, Microsoft signed its first power purchase agreement - a modest 110-megawatt wind project in Texas that was more proof-of-concept than game-changer. "What began as a small first step to demonstrate how corporate procurement could scale clean energy has evolved into one of the largest clean energy portfolios in the world," Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa and Cloud Operations President Noelle Walsh wrote in the official announcement.
The scale is hard to wrap your head around. Of the 40 gigawatts contracted since Microsoft's carbon negative announcement in 2020, 19 gigawatts are already pumping electrons into power grids worldwide. That's enough juice to power roughly 10 million US homes, according to . The remaining 21 gigawatts are slated to come online over the next five years as projects move from planning to construction to operation.
