Microsoft is trying to turn AI's climate threat into a green boom
To stick the landing, the tech giant will have to help develop many nascent technologies — from nuclear fusion to timber data centres.
Environmental reports rarely go viral, but that’s exactly what happened when Microsoft released its 2023 carbon review. Years after pledging to be carbon negative by 2030, the tech giant’s emissions had in fact gone up — by a staggering 30%.
AI was largely to blame. Microsoft has been racing to build data centres to support the infrastructure needed for the AI boom. The main culprit isn’t the electricity these centres consume but the steel and concrete used in their construction.
As a solution, Microsoft has started building two US data centres that use timber to replace much of the steel and concrete typically required.
"For 2000 years, every way to build something has been to basically add carbon to the atmosphere," said Alistair Speirs, senior director of Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure.
