Microsoft

Carbon per million dollars of revenue. The legacy industry-standard reference (CDP, MSCI). Useful for cross-sector context, but distorted by margin — high-margin firms appear artificially efficient. Read alongside the operational and asset intensities for the full picture.

OpEx (operating expenditure) is the running cost of the business — staff, services, energy, materials. This shows how carbon-intensive operations are per million dollars of spend. Removes the margin distortion that revenue-based ratios introduce.

EVIC (Enterprise Value Including Cash) is the firm's total capital footprint — equity + debt + cash + minority interest. The EU's standard intensity measure (SFDR PAI 3) — answers: how much carbon does each million of capital deployed in this business produce?

PP&E (Property, Plant & Equipment) plus leased real-estate assets is the firm's physical infrastructure on the balance sheet. This shows the carbon intensity of that physical footprint — uses Scope 1+2+3 for consistency with the other headline intensities. Surfaces stranded-asset risk for asset-heavy firms.

• · berkeley_voluntary_registry
• · Puro.earth Registry
• · CarbonPlan OffsetsDB

Microsoft is one of the largest corporate renewable energy purchasers, with a contracted portfolio of 19.8 GW of renewable energy assets across 21 countries as of 2023. Total renewable electricity use in FY23 was 23.6 million MWh. The 100/100/0 target commits to 100% of electricity matched by zero-carbon energy purchases 100% of the time by 2030. New PPAs in FY23 include AES Brasil (154 MW Cajuina Wind), Constellation Energy (Virginia), Powerex (Washington — first commercial customer of 24×7 Clean Load Service), Contact Energy (New Zealand), Lightsource bp (Poland), and Statkraft (366 MW in Ireland). Microsoft also signed a fusion power agreement with Helion targeting 50+ MW by 2028.

In FY23 Microsoft contracted 5,015,019 metric tons of carbon removal to be retired over the next 15 years, with 875,000 tonnes counted toward the 2030 goal of >5M tonnes/year. Portfolio is balanced across low (nature-based), medium, and high durability solutions. FY23 deals include Mombak reforestation in Brazilian Amazon, Ørsted BECCS in Europe, Heirloom direct air capture, and enhanced rock weathering with UNDO and Lithos. 605,354 tonnes were retired in FY23 to achieve carbon neutrality. Contracts require credits that are additional, durable, measurable, and net negative.

• IT hardware circularity in datacenters

  Internal IT hardware circularity through reuse of decommissioned hardware across network, labs, and spares saved an estimated 4,000 tCO2e in FY23 in Scope 3 Cat 5 (waste in operations). Reimagining circularity of cloud hardware is a core prong of the Scope 3 reduction strategy.

• Datacenter electricity decarbonisation

  Datacenters account for the largest share of Microsoft Scope 2 emissions (7,779,660 tCO2e location-based; 384,489 tCO2e market-based in FY23). Strategy is 24/7 carbon-free electricity via PPAs covering 100% of carbon-emitting datacenter, building, and campus electricity by 2025, plus energy efficiency in datacenter design.

• Fleet electrification and company car emissions reduction

  Microsoft Global Workplace Services is right-sizing and electrifying campus operations fleet by 2030. Company car policies have reduced average emissions from 142.26 g/km in FY13 Q1 to 81.65 g/km in FY23. Combined initiatives saved 4,320 tCO2e of Scope 1 emissions in FY23.

• Datacenter efficiency (PUE 1.12) and low-power server states

  Microsoft datacenters delivered a design PUE rating of 1.12 in FY23. Deployed low-power server states across ~1 million servers (up from a few thousand in 2022), reducing energy usage up to 25% on unallocated servers. Resource utilization improvements yielded a 7% reduction in datacenter power infrastructure and 1.5% reduction in hardware needs for Azure platform.

• Fleet electrification — 100% electric fleet by 2030

  Constructing Electric Vehicle Fleet Facility at Redmond HQ targeting LEED Platinum. Underground garage at Redmond will include 130 EV charging stations with 176 more planned. Combustion no longer permitted for daily use in any new office construction; new campus projects require high-efficiency refrigeration, all-electric kitchens, and non-fossil-fuel backup power.

• Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for business travel and freight

  In FY23, Microsoft purchased SAF certificates through contracts with United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and IAG, saving an estimated 38,000 tCO2e across Scope 3 Cat 4 (upstream transport) and Cat 6 (business travel). SAFc emissions reductions are applied against air travel emissions inclusive of well-to-tank and tank-to-wake.

• Use-of-sold-products efficiency (Xbox, Surface)

  Scope 3 Cat 11 emissions are 2,158,000 tCO2e in FY23, calculated using telemetry data from Xbox consoles and Surface devices for direct use-phase energy. Strategy includes boosting device efficiency to reduce in-use emissions.

• Supplier engagement on Scope 3 emissions

  Supplier emissions reductions through Supplier Code of Conduct commitments saved an estimated 638,000 tCO2e in Scope 3 Category 2 (Capital goods) in FY23. 70% of capital goods emissions are now calculated using supplier-specific data. Strategy focuses on improving measurement, increasing efficiency, forging partnerships, building markets, and policy advocacy.

• Supply chain decarbonisation — 76.5% of emissions from suppliers

  76.5% of total emissions originate from suppliers. Microsoft requires select high-volume suppliers to use 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030. Launched Supplier REach portal with 3Degrees to help suppliers procure renewable energy. In FY23, 59 suppliers transitioned to renewable energy (six to 100%), avoiding ~105,000 mtCO2e. 99.4% of suppliers responded to CDP climate questionnaire in 2023.

• Low-carbon concrete, steel, and building materials

  Piloted limestone alternative to concrete from algae cultivation, achieving 65% embodied carbon reduction vs conventional concrete. Investment in H2 Green Steel (95% emissions reduction vs traditional). Working with suppliers on greener concrete, steel for datacenter construction — major driver of Scope 3 Category 2 capital goods emissions (38.24% of Scope 3).

• Sustainable aviation fuel and logistics decarbonisation

  10-year contract with World Energy for SAF certificates aiming to replace 43.7 million gallons of fossil jet fuel; joint funded large-scale SAF purchase with International Airlines Group. Joined Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA). Cloud Logistics avoided 90,000 mtCO2e through optimization, shifting to carbon-efficient transport modes. Launched initiative to build first electric interstate trucking corridor in the US.

• Use of sold products — Xbox carbon-aware game updates

  Use of Sold Products is 14.05% of Scope 3. Xbox is first carbon-aware gaming console — schedules game/app/OS updates when renewable energy is highest on local grid. Shutdown energy saving mode offers up to 20× reduction in power consumption vs Sleep mode. Windows 11 Energy Recommendations adopted by ~11 million customers in first 4 months. Partnership with Epic estimates 200 MWh/day savings across Fortnite player base = 73 GWh/year.