Microsoft, Alphabet executives defend data center expansion at climate meetings as emissions surge

At Climate Week NYC, executives from Microsoft and Alphabet stood in front of rooms full of climate-conscious attendees and essentially said: yes, we know our emissions are climbing, and yes, we’re going to keep building data centers anyway. The remarks came against a backdrop of sustainability reports that made for uncomfortable reading.

Microsoft’s emissions jumped 25% year-over-year in 2025, reaching 20 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Alphabet wasn’t far behind, posting an 18% emissions increase driven largely by supply-chain activities.

First reported by Crypto Briefing.