When it comes to carbon goals, Microsoft is on an unprecedented undertaking: its first ever fully built data centers entirely composed of highly lightweight, ultrasturdy wood. Located in northern Virginia, as cross-laminated timber, a prefabricated building material, these ones are designed to have fire retardant properties meant to dim the carbon emissions of any steel and concrete. The embodied carbon emissions of the hybrid approach are expected to be reduced by 65 percent relative to the precast concrete and by 35 percent relative to the steel construction.
It is part of an effort by Microsoft to further decarbonize after the company committed in 2020 to be carbon negative by 2030 and to offset all of its historic emissions by 2050. While direct emissions are down 6.3 percent over three years, indirect emissions soared significantly with the datacenter expansion. To address this, Microsoft is updating contract language to require low-carbon materials and will require key suppliers to use carbon-free electricity by 2030. The company is also investing in sustainable building solutions such as hydrogen-powered steel and carbon-trapping concrete.
An important part of the strategy is the $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund the company launched in 2020. So far, it has committed $761 million to scalable climate technologies. Investments include CarbonCure, which injects CO₂ into concrete, and Boston Metal, which uses renewable electricity for steel production. Microsoft has also invested in Electric Hydrogen to foster a green hydrogen supply chain that is important for carbon-free steel. These efforts complement Microsoft’s policy advocacy to boost carbon-free energy grids and expand clean energy infrastructure.
This has made engineered wood like CLT, made from spruce or pine, so advantageous over traditional materials including fire resistance, quicker to install, and having the lowest carbon footprint. That’s why it’s one of the staples in Europe, even used for construction at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus. But its adoptions in the U.S. are still growing to achieve a cost that is some 10 percent higher compared to conventional methods. However, large projects can offset the costs, and the higher pace of construction and less requirement for labor can make the material offset the costs. An example is Microsoft’s use of CLT, a market signal that could hasten a widespread shift towards the use of this material.
In light of high costs and a still fragmented supply chain, for example, Microsoft will test and validate new materials for its projects. This, it believes, can affect the market and contribute toward a system-wide transition into a net-zero carbon future.