Microsoft Corp. is trying to reassure its own workers that its data centers are having a positive impact on society. Many personnel have been asking questions about energy, water, emissions and the giant facilities' effect on local communities, development chief Noelle Walsh wrote this week in a message to employees that was reviewed by Bloomberg.
Walsh acknowledged that AI was making it more difficult to achieve prior commitments on emissions. Still, she pointed toward recent improvements in hardware energy efficiency, water usage and plans to build dozens of gigawatts of renewable energy.
Data centers must be built “with discipline, transparency and a relentless focus on reducing impact and increasing benefits,” she wrote.
Microsoft declined to comment beyond the memo.
The tech industry is trying to blunt a ferocious backlash against the data centers it needs for artificial intelligence. At least 75 projects, worth about $130 billion combined, were blocked or delayed by local opposition during the first three months of this year, according to research group Data Center Watch.
Protesters cite concerns about environmental impact and more broadly how AI could kill jobs and upend society. Walsh's message suggests that at least some Microsoft employees share these concerns.
The company has said its carbon emissions climbed 25% in 2025 due to the construction of power-hungry data centers. Microsoft has also told sustainability partners that it will pull back from new carbon-banking deals, and executives have weighed shelving an ambitious target to match all energy use with renewables.
In her memo, Walsh touted some positive environmental stats. Water use effectiveness in data centers has improved by almost 90% since the company's first generation of server farms, she said. Microsoft has agreements to add up to 40 gigawatts of renewable power across the globe. And more than 90% of decommissioned hardware from data centers is reused or recycled, she said.
In response to the data center backlash, tech companies are revving up their PR machines, making new concessions and shifting their approach to local politics. Microsoft said in January that it would no longer seek property tax breaks from communities where it's building these facilities and pledged to pay for its own energy usage to ensure residents don't pay more for their electricity.
In closing, Walsh wrote: “Communities should share in the benefits of AI infrastructure without inheriting its costs.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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