Climate Action

Microsoft announced it matched 100% of its annual global electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases. Since its 2020 carbon-negative announcement, the company has contracted 40 GW of new renewable energy across 26 countries through 95+ utilities and 400+ contracts. 19 GW is already online with remainder coming over the next 5 years. Estimated to reduce Scope 2 emissions by 25 million tons of CO2.

VP Lisa Jackson, essentially Apple's chief sustainability officer, retired in January 2026 and Apple eliminated the CSO role rather than replacing her. This represents a significant organizational shift for one of the world's largest tech companies, removing dedicated executive leadership for sustainability despite Apple's strong environmental track record including 60% CO₂ emissions reduction since 2015 and 100% renewable electricity for all corporate operations since 2018.

Announced $1M to support energy research at Carnegie Mellon's Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, leveraging AI for grid management, energy efficiency, and resilience. Stated: 'AI will be a powerful tool to support emissions reductions, advance clean energy innovation, and streamline efficiencies.'

SpaceX's Starlink constellation, comprising 65% of all active satellites in orbit (~9,400 of 11,000 LEO payloads), performed 300,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in 2025 - a 50% increase from 2024. Professor Hugh Lewis of University of Birmingham stated: 'From a physics point of view, it's not good. We are moving ourselves towards a pretty bad scenario in orbit. It is not sustainable.' SpaceX is on track for 1 million maneuvers annually by 2027. In response, SpaceX announced plans to lower 4,400 satellites from 550km to 480km altitude in 2026 to reduce collision risk.

By December 2025, Frontier, the advance market commitment co-founded by Stripe with Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey, surpassed $713 million in offtake agreements covering 1.89 million tons of contracted CO2 removals across 52 carbon removal projects. In 2024 alone, Frontier signed a record $279M in offtakes (up from $166M in 2023). Major 2025 deals included $41M for Reverion biogas technology and $44.2M for NULIFE GreenTech biowaste carbon removal.

Uber abandoned its 2030 commitment to achieve 100% electric vehicle fleets in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company discontinued monthly EV bonuses for drivers in December 2025, eliminating a key incentive program. Additionally removed climate language from April 2025 investor materials and made ESG reports inaccessible. Despite original $800 million 'Green Future' pledge, only $439 million was invested as of May 2025. Current electrification rates show only 9% in North America, 15% in Europe, and 40% in London - far from goals. Uber is actively fighting electrification requirements in California, New York City, and Toronto. The reversal followed President Trump's inauguration, to which Uber donated $1 million.

At Nvidia's November 2025 GTC conference, Jensen Huang gave 'a shout-out for Secretary Chris Wright' (a climate denier) and advocated for gas, coal, and oil to power AI data centers. Huang praised Trump's energy policy for allowing AI scaling and used language like 'Make America rich again.' Observers called the tone 'devotional' to Trump.

Lyft set ambitious goal in 2023 to reach 100 million electric vehicle rides on platform by end of 2025. On September 25, 2025, company hit that milestone 'with a few months to spare,' according to Jeremy Bird, EVP of Driver Experience. Achievement demonstrates real measurable progress toward 2030 commitment to reach 100% electric vehicles on platform, showing Lyft drivers adopting EVs faster than general population. Milestone represents significant environmental impact as rides transition from gas to electric power.

Nvidia's FY2025 sustainability report revealed total carbon emissions of approximately 7.15 million tonnes CO2e, an 87% increase from the prior year's 3.8 million tonnes. Nearly all emissions (97%+) came from Scope 3 (supply chain and product use), with 'Purchased Goods and Services' accounting for 87% of Scope 3 emissions. A Greenpeace report gave Nvidia the lowest ranking (F) for supply chain transparency and noted Nvidia has not set any renewable energy targets for its supply chain. The company has no formal net-zero commitment across all scopes, though it achieved 100% renewable electricity for its own operations in FY2025.

C.C. Wei committed TSMC to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) with goals of 100% renewable energy by 2040 (accelerated from 2050) and net-zero emissions by 2050. Wei stated: 'TSMC works closely with our supply chain partners and stakeholders to advance green initiatives and develop innovative energy-saving and carbon reduction technologies.'

TSMC announced formal SBTi commitment April 2025 with roadmap: peak emissions 2025, reduce to 2020 levels by 2030 with RE60 (60% renewable energy), achieve RE100 by 2040 (accelerated from 2050 after NGO pressure), net-zero by 2050. Launched GREEN Agreement requiring 50+ suppliers (90% of supply chain emissions) to reach 85% renewable energy in Taiwan and 100% overseas by 2030. 22 consecutive years in Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Under Tim Cook's leadership, Apple announced in April 2025 that it has surpassed 60% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions from 2015 levels, on track for its Apple 2030 goal of 75% reduction and full carbon neutrality. Over 320 suppliers (95% of manufacturing spend) have transitioned to renewable energy.

In March 2025, Bill Gates dissolved Breakthrough Energy's public policy units in both the United States and Europe, saying the advocacy work was 'not likely to have a significant effect in Washington' as the second Trump administration promoted fossil fuels and dissolved climate programs. The decision shifted Breakthrough's strategy away from policy advocacy toward supporting clean energy technology alone.

Amazon building 1,200-acre data center complex in Indiana for Anthropic's AI (30 buildings, 2.2 GW capacity). Three-quarters of the new power plants will be fueled by natural gas. Anthropic advocated for US to build additional 50 GW of dedicated power by 2027.

ASML achieved carbon net neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2025 with a 90% reduction from 2019 baseline, meeting Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) commitments. The company set ambitious long-term goals: greenhouse gas neutrality across entire value chain by 2040 and zero waste to landfill/incineration by 2030. Currently manages 86% of 8,900 tonnes annual waste sustainably through recycling and waste-to-energy. In 2024, ASML innovatively shipped DUV system via sea instead of air, demonstrating ESG integration across operations.

In 2025, AMD published its Climate Transition Plan (CTP) with governance, strategies and action plans to support decarbonization efforts across products, operations and supply chain. The company committed to achieving full net-zero emissions throughout its entire value chain by 2050, with interim targets set for 2030: 50% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and 25% reduction in Scope 3 emissions from 2020 baseline. AMD's chiplet architecture saved approximately 132,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2023 - 2.8x AMD's annual operational footprint.

In 2025, AMD announced it exceeded its ambitious 30x25 goal to increase energy efficiency of AI-training and HPC nodes by 30x from 2020 to 2025. The actual achievement was a 38.5x improvement in node-level energy efficiency for AI training and high-performance computing - cutting energy use by 97% for the same performance using AMD Instinct MI350 Series GPUs and 5th Gen AMD EPYC CPUs. AMD set a new 2030 goal to deliver a 20x increase in rack-scale energy efficiency from a 2024 base year, demonstrating continued commitment to reducing computing's environmental footprint.

The Sergey Brin Family Foundation made nearly $243 million in climate-related awards in 2024, up from $147 million in 2023. His foundation granted $1.1 billion total in 2025, with significant portions going to Parkinson's research and climate change mitigation.

Oceankind, founded by Larry Page's wife Lucinda Southworth in 2018, has spent more than $121 million funding marine science, technology, and conservation. Major grants include over $18 million to ClimateWorks for decarbonizing shipping and offshore wind, $7 million to Global Fishing Watch, $8.6 million to The Nature Conservancy, nearly $6 million to Natural Resources Defense Council, $6.4 million to Ocean Conservancy, and $4 million to Blue Ventures. The organization focuses on protecting oceans through technology and conservation.

According to Tesla's 2024 Impact Report, Tesla customers avoided releasing nearly 32 million metric tons of CO2e into the atmosphere through driving Tesla EVs and using Tesla energy storage and solar products. A Tesla vehicle is expected to avoid approximately 51 metric tons of CO2e over its 17-year lifetime compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. Note: A 2025 Greenly study estimated actual avoided emissions may be 28-49% lower than Tesla's claims.