Key Points:
- Microsoft matched 100% of its electricity usage with renewable energy last year.
- The company contracted 40 gigawatts of green power across 26 countries.
- Executives plan to invest $50 billion by 2030 to expand AI in the Global South.
- Nuclear energy deals will help the company remain carbon-negative in the future.
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it successfully matched all its electricity needs with renewable energy for the first time in 2025. The tech giant promised to maintain this 100% coverage even as it builds more power-hungry data centers to support the booming artificial intelligence market.
To reach this milestone, the company signed contracts for 40 gigawatts of new green energy. These long-term agreements help utility providers fund and build new wind and solar projects. Microsoft says about 19 gigawatts of this energy are already feeding into the power grid, while the rest will come online over the next five years across 26 different countries.
Noelle Walsh, Microsoft’s cloud operations chief, spoke from the company’s campus in Dublin. She emphasized that as the company grows, keeping the 100% match is a top priority. Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa added that carbon-free power sources, like nuclear energy, will play a bigger role soon. She pointed to a deal signed in 2024 to restart a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania as a key part of their strategy to become carbon negative by 2030.
Beyond energy goals, Microsoft revealed a massive financial commitment. The company is on track to invest $50 billion by 2030 to bring AI technology to the ‘Global South.’ Most of these funds will go toward building the physical data centers and cloud infrastructure needed to run these advanced systems.
The announcement brought good news for Microsoft’s operations in Ireland. Walsh noted that the government recently lifted a freeze on new grid connections for data centers. Eoin Doherty, the cloud operations lead for the region, said the company will now move forward with stalled projects near Dublin.
Starting next month, new regulations require data centers to match at least 80% of their demand with new renewable power, a standard Microsoft is prepared to meet.
