Rather than using the traditional materials of steel and concrete for the entire build, Microsoft is using cross-laminated timber (CLT) for a new data center in Northern Virginia. The experiment is part of the company's drive to become carbon negative by 2030 and offset all its emissions since its founding (in 1975) by 2050.
What they really care about is investors, some of which happen to care about ESG. The E stands for environment, so this way Microsoft can write many pages of greenwashing nonsense on their ESG report in order to attract investors without actually hurting their bottom line that much. Microsoft looks green, investors are happy, it’s a win-win… Oh but the energy consumption is still through the roof, but we don’t talk about that.