Microsoft may be rethinking one of the tech industry’s most ambitious clean-energy commitments as its AI-fueled data center buildout sends electricity demand soaring.

What’s happening?

According to Bloomberg, the company is considering pushing back — or possibly scrapping — its 2030 plan to line up all of its electricity use, hour by hour, with zero-carbon power. The possible shift highlights a growing tension across the tech sector as the race to build AI infrastructure is running headfirst into climate promises made before the current boom in computing demand.

Microsoft introduced the goal in 2021 under the name “100/100/0.” The idea was more ambitious than the standard approach many companies have used for renewable energy accounting. Rather than buying enough clean electricity over the course of a year to offset total consumption, Microsoft said it wanted to match its electricity use with zero-carbon power on an hourly basis and on the same grids where that power was consumed. Now, that standard may be slipping out of reach.

Sources told Bloomberg that Microsoft is weighing a delay to the target or abandoning it, though the company has not made a final decision. A spokesperson said Microsoft is still exploring ways to maintain an annual matching goal, but they did not directly address whether it still expects to meet the tougher hourly benchmark.

The challenge appears to be tied directly to the enormous energy demands of the AI era. Bloomberg reported that Microsoft has been adding about 1 gigawatt of data center capacity every three months — enough to supply roughly 750,000 homes with electricity. The same report said the company expects to spend $190 billion through the end of December, with much of that investment linked to data centers.

That rapid expansion is also showing up in the company’s carbon pollution. In its most recent sustainability report, Microsoft said its emissions were up 23% compared with its pre-ChatGPT baseline, driven in part by “growth-related factors such as AI and cloud expansion.” Other major tech companies have reported similar increases: Meta’s emissions rose 64%, Google’s 51%, and Amazon’s 33%.

The broader industry is facing the same strain. As Bloomberg reported, citing BloombergNEF, U.S. data center power demand is expected to exceed 106 gigawatts by 2035, more than double current levels.

Why is this concerning?

If a company as large and influential as Microsoft backs away from a flagship clean-energy commitment, it could signal a much wider pullback across the tech industry just as electricity demand is accelerating.