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Microsoft has an ambitious plan to reduce its carbon emissions. But on Thursday, the company reported a massive increase in greenhouse gases from its operations and products, reminding them of the challenges companies face as they try to clean up their businesses.

Microsoft’s carbon emissions rose 21.5 percent in the 12 months to June 2021, after small decreases in 2020 and 2019. Almost all of the increase was due to emissions from the energy used to build data centers and make devices like the Xbox and Surface tablet. and the power that Microsoft estimates its products are consumed when used by humans.

Microsoft has sought to demonstrate that with determined leaders and adequate funding, companies can effectively reduce their net emissions to zero in the coming years. international efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures. But the rise in Microsoft’s emissions indicates that Microsoft and other companies may have trouble meeting their goals. It’s a reminder that strong business growth can often mean pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, as the increase is driven by strong demand for products.

Yet Microsoft’s leaders say they could be “carbon negative” by the end of the decade, by reducing emissions and using various measures to remove carbon from the atmosphere. “We are still firmly committed to our 2030 commitment and are absolutely confident in our ability to deliver,” said Lucas Joppa, Microsoft’s chief environmental officer.

Many large companies have some sort of plan to reduce their emissions and face pressure from shareholders to do more. Investors have also forced oil and gas companies to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Microsoft became the first major technology company to report on the progress of its sustainability efforts this year. Meta, the parent company of Apple, Google and Facebook, aims to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2030. Amazon, which has a large distribution network and much more extensive supply chains, has a 2040 target to do the same.

In a new move, Microsoft on Thursday said it will no longer do private business for energy companies engaged in the extraction of fossil fuels unless they have a “net zero” goal. This term generally means no carbon emissions; this is a goal that companies typically hope to achieve through a combination of emissions reduction and decarbonisation.

And Dr. Joppa said recent disruptions in the oil and gas markets have not convinced him of the need to slow the transition to renewable energy sources. “I can say that I didn’t see anything that convinced me that we needed to do something other than just keep going faster,” he said.

Microsoft is also active in pushing the climate agenda beyond its own business. When is the Securities and Exchange Commission sought input from the public on how corporate climate change disclosures are made Microsoft said such disclosure rules would support the commission’s development.

The government may face some resistance in Washington for forcing companies to adopt climate policies – especially as the spike in energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted calls to ramp up oil and gas production.

“Private companies are free to pursue net-zero policies regardless – as long as they follow the law, it’s not a public policy issue,” said Katie Tubb, senior policy analyst for energy and the environment. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy group, in an email. “It is of greater concern that policy makers seek to use government power to suppress and even demand such efforts in the private sector,” he said.

In theory, Microsoft’s huge profits provide Microsoft with the tools to achieve its goals. And the company has been successful in reducing emissions from its own operations, known in industry jargon as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and from the electricity that powers those operations. These are down 17 percent in the 12 months to June, and with more clean power and efficiency measures taken, the company said Dr. It aims to reduce these emissions to near zero by 2025, which Joppa says Microsoft still expects to achieve.

Reducing Scope 3 emissions from a company’s supply chains and customers is much more difficult. Microsoft’s Scope 3 emissions are nearly 50 times greater than Scope 1 and 2 combined, and were up 23 percent year-on-year through June, after small declines in previous years. This leap came from three main sources: the energy used to build data centers; power consumed by suppliers; and the energy spent when customers use Microsoft devices has ballooned as the pandemic increases Xbox usage.

Despite this, Microsoft aims to cut Scope 3 emissions by more than half by 2030. And by removing millions of tons of carbon from the air annually, it hopes to reduce its overall emissions to zero or less on a net basis. ten years.

An important factor will be the rapid development of carbon removal technologies. small scale and expensive. Reforestation is currently Microsoft’s main decarbonisation method. The company said it has contracts to decarbonize 2.5 million mt, but that only represents 18 percent of its carbon emissions in the year through June. Dr. Joppa said Microsoft could achieve its goals even if the technology that removes carbon directly from the air doesn’t work.