Microsoft inks $10 billion green energy deal as power-hungry AI forces its hand to meet emissions commitments

(Credit: Dimas Ardian—Bloomberg/Getty Images)

In 2020, Microsoft made a splashy pledge to be carbon negative by 2030. By purchasing carbon offsets and, crucially, cutting its own emissions, the tech giant committed to not just be a net positive for the climate but to “remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since it was founded in 1975.”

Then came AI.