Microsoft replacing steel, concrete in new datacenters with wood to cut carbon emissions

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🗞️ Driving the news: Microsoft is adopting cross-laminated timber (CLT) to replace steel and concrete in its datacenter construction, aiming to lower the embodied carbon footprint of its facilities
• The switch to wood materials could reduce the carbon impact of these datacenters by 35% compared to steel and 65% compared to concrete

🔭 The context: Steel and concrete production are major global carbon emitters, accounting for roughly 15% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide
• As Microsoft scales its datacenter footprint, emissions have spiked, with Scope 3 emissions rising by over 30% since 2020 due to construction and material use

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: By transitioning to CLT, Microsoft is leading an industry shift toward sustainable building materials, which could reduce emissions in construction and foster innovation in low-carbon infrastructure
• This move aligns with Microsoft's goal to achieve carbon negativity by 2030 and reduce its Scope 3 emissions significantly

⏭️ What's next: Microsoft plans to incorporate low-carbon requirements into its supplier contracts and continues to invest in sustainable building technologies through its Climate Innovation Fund
• These efforts could accelerate broader adoption of low-emission materials in the tech industry

💬 One quote: “We have to be system thinkers across the entire value chain of these materials that go into our datacenters,” - Jim Hanna, Microsoft’s sustainability lead for datacenter engineering

📈 One stat: CLT can reduce embodied carbon in datacenter construction by 35% versus steel and 65% versus precast concrete

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