Microsoft Matches 100% of Its Electricity Use With Renewables

Microsoft matches 100% of its electricity use with renewables

Microsoft has contracted 40 GW of new renewables across 26 countries via 400+ deals with 95+ suppliers since 2020, with 19 GW already online and an estimated 25 million tonnes of Scope 2 emissions avoided. 

As a result, Microsoft claims it has now matched 100% of its annual global electricity use with renewable energy, a key milestone on its path to carbon neutrality by 2030. With this milestone achieved, Microsoft sends a clear market signal for world-class, first-of-a-kind technologies and infrastructure, and notes that the power sector is rising to the challenge. 

Microsoft also proudly mentions its highly bankable PPA (power purchase agreement) models, such as a 10.5 GW hydro framework with Brookfield and over 1.5 GW of distributed solar that delivers local jobs, cost savings, and resilience. Microsoft stresses “putting communities first,” for example, their PPAs with Sol Systems, Volt Energy Utility, Pivot Energy, and PowerTrust that bundle training, grants, and infrastructure. 

Looking ahead, Microsoft outlines an “Age of Electricity” strategy that goes beyond renewables to include nuclear, storage, carbon capture, and even a 50 MW fusion PPA with Helion, as well as the restart of the 835 MW Crane Clean Energy Center, backed by an $806 million Climate Innovation Fund portfolio.

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Further reading: A milestone achievement in our journey to carbon negative

Utility Global raises $100 Million to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors with hydrogen

Houston-based clean technology firm Utility Global has raised $100 million in a Series D round to scale its “H2Gen” technology, which produces clean hydrogen and a high-purity, capture‑ready CO₂ stream from water and industrial off‑gases without using electricity, targeting hard‑to‑abate sectors like steel, refining, chemicals, mobility, and upstream oil & gas. 

The technology is designed to bolt onto existing industrial infrastructure, cutting both emissions and the cost and complexity of carbon capture. CEO Parker Meeks says industrial customers “are no longer looking for pilots or promises” and need “deployable solutions” that deliver “true economic industrial decarbonisation today,” highlighting that Utility’s platform provides “economic clean hydrogen and capture-ready CO₂ streams.” 

Ara Partners, which first invested in 2021 and joined the prior $53 million Series C in 2024, led the new round alongside APG Asset Management, with board chair Cory Steffek stressing that Utility can compete “head‑to‑head with conventional fossil‑based solutions on cost and reliability” while materially cutting emissions.

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Further reading: Utility Global Raises $100 Million to Decarbonize Hard-to-Abate Sectors with Clean Hydrogen Tech

Canada to boost investments in Ukraine’s energy sector

Canada and Ukraine have signed a new “strategic energy partnership” in Paris, with Canada pledging to work with industry to transfer oil and gas equipment to Ukraine on concessional terms and to drum up investment in renewables and hydropower reconstruction to support Ukraine’s battered grid. 

The deal also covers joint risk assessments and exercises against “hybrid threats” to energy infrastructure, plus closer commercial ties on nuclear fuel and technical advice on building infrastructure for non‑Russian gas supplies, though the agreement is non‑binding and actual investments will depend on companies following through. 

Canadian energy minister Tim Hodgson framed the push as “not simply reconstruction” but “modernisation under pressure,” underscoring how Russia’s repeated strikes on power plants, transmission lines and gas facilities have killed civilians, left tens of thousands without heat and power in sub‑minus‑20°C conditions, and forced Ukraine’s central bank to cut its 2026 growth forecast to 1.8% as power demand now outstrips available supply by roughly one third.

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Further reading: Canada to boost investments in Ukraine’s energy sector

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Glencore still open to “mega-miner” deal after Rio Tinto deal collapsed

In the latest chapter of Glencore’s merger ambitions, the Swiss resources giant says it remains open to creating a “big, mega, major miner” even after its planned $260 billion merger with Rio Tinto collapsed over valuation disagreements. 

Glencore CEO Gary Nagle insists it was a deal they “would have liked to do” but “not a deal that we had to do,” while touting a 2025 profit rebound to $363 million from a $1.6 billion loss, aggressive copper growth targets of 1 million tonnes by 2028 and 1.6 million by 2035 to feed AI and clean energy demand, and shareholder returns via a $0.10 dividend plus an extra $0.07, with analysts highlighting around $23 billion of copper capex needs but stressing Glencore’s roughly $4 billion in annual free cash flow and ability to “go it alone” even as consolidation pressures persist and the stock jumps 4.3 percent on the day, up 24 percent year-to-date.

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Further reading: Glencore Still Open To ‘Mega-miner’ Deal After Rio Collapse

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: Microsoft Office in Atlanta, Georgia. Cover Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons