Enabled Emissions: How AI is Being Used to Expand Fossil Fuels

By Holly Alpine 24 November, 2025

Tech firms spout support for clean energy yet continue to supply oil & gas companies with AI tools to boost extraction. Former Microsoft manager Alpine speaks out about this hidden emissions source & what to do about it

Even as Microsoft pledges to be carbon negative by 2030, it is building AI tools to make fossil fuel production more profitable & efficient, contributing to higher global emissions
The Enabled Emissions Campaign exposes this indirect but massive emissions source & aims to hold tech companies accountable to their climate goals & responsible AI claims
AI should serve the clean energy transition, not stand in its way; we need disclosure of tech-enabled fossil fuel emissions, regulation on AI use & greater international awareness
Author: Holly Alpine
Holly Alpine is a sustainability leader with over a decade of experience driving global environmental initiatives, including founding Microsoft’s Community Environmental Sustainability program, and co-founding its Employee Engagement program for sustainability. She now co-leads the Enabled Emissions Campaign, driving for guardrails on the use of advanced tech in expanding fossil fuel production. Beyond her professional work, she is an accomplished plant-based mountain athlete.
Read more from Holly Alpine →

The direct climate impacts of AI have become a serious cause for concern given how much electricity and water data centres drain from their local networks. But former Microsoft sustainability manager Holly Alpine warns that the bigger climate risk comes from AI’s indirect role in how it’s used: helping fossil fuel companies extract oil & gas more efficiently.

As co-founder of the Enabled Emissions Campaign, she is raising the alarm on how tech companies are providing advanced technologies like AI, IoT and cloud computing to the fossil fuel industry to significantly boost their production. The massive resulting emissions are “enabled” by involved tech companies, yet they remain largely unaddressed.

We speak to Holly to learn more about this overlooked AI impact. 

CWR: Thanks so much for joining us today! Can you tell us why you started the Enabled Emissions Campaign?

Holly Alpine (HA): Microsoft has taken some of the boldest climate positions in tech – pledging to be carbon negative by 2030 and saying it has an “enormous responsibility to ensure the technology we build benefits… the planet itself.” The company has even called for AI “guardrails that steer the world safely, securely, and equitably toward net-zero emissions, climate resilience, and a nature-positive future.”

Oil & gas producers are some of Microsoft’s largest customers…

But in practice, there are no such guardrails. Microsoft builds and provides AI and cloud tools to oil and gas producers to extend asset lifetimes, cut costs, and unlock new supply – a multibillion-dollar business serving some of its largest customers.

When we worked at Microsoft, we saw firsthand how advanced technologies like AI, IoT, and cloud computing were being deployed to make fossil fuel production more profitable and efficient. These technologies are rapidly accelerating the very industry driving the climate crisis.

…yet Microsoft claims that AI should help accelerate the clean energy transition

Those emissions aren’t included in Microsoft’s own carbon accounting – and while we’re not saying they should be, the company has made very explicit claims about taking responsibility for the impact of its technology, and it isn’t doing that. We started the Enabled Emissions Campaign to expose this gap and push for accountability. AI should be helping accelerate the clean energy transition (as the company claims), not supercharge Big Oil in the wrong direction.

CWR: While looking into Microsoft’s partnerships with oil and gas firms, were there any data that particularly shocked or troubled you?

HA: What shocked us most wasn’t a single data point, but the scale and intentionality. Microsoft and its peers have built extensive partnerships with the world’s largest oil and gas firms – often promoting that their tools can help “build dozens of new facilities,” “drill thousands of new wells,” and boost production by “up to 15%.”

That’s not a small efficiency gain; that’s a major expansion of fossil fuel output enabled by technology. Seeing internal documentation describing how AI models were optimizing drilling and maximizing returns on carbon-intensive assets was deeply troubling. It became clear this wasn’t incidental – it was a deliberate growth strategy.

CWR: Do you think it’s possible for tech companies to work with the fossil fuel industry to meaningfully support decarbonisation?

HA: Sure, it’s possible and absolutely should happen, but it’s overwhelmingly not what’s happening currently.

Tech helps oil & gas firms increase efficiency…

…which means greater production & emissions

Tech companies often justify these partnerships by saying their technologies can help oil and gas firms “increase efficiency,” but when those tools are used to be more efficient at increasing production, the net result is higher emissions overall. Real decarbonisation requires phasing out fossil fuels, not prolonging or expanding their use.

Tech companies should instead direct their innovation, investment, and infrastructure toward renewable energy, grid optimization, and climate adaptation – not toward extracting more oil and gas.

Microsoft’s enabled emissions via contracts with oil & gas companies compared to the annual emissions (2019-2020) of 5 big tech firms. Source: Chris Adams/Nextjournal

CWR: What guardrails would you like to see in place to ensure that AI is used in a socially and environmentally responsible way?

HA: We need clear, enforceable boundaries on where and how AI is applied.

That starts with transparency – companies should be required to disclose how their technologies are being used, and the resulting emissions they enable. Governments and investors should set standards that prohibit AI and cloud tools from being used to expand fossil fuel production. And within companies, employees must have the right and support to speak up when their work conflicts with climate goals.

CWR: You’ve gone from reforming Microsoft from within to now advocating for industry change on the outside. What have you learned about influencing corporate behaviour?

HA: Working inside Microsoft taught us how resistant large corporations can be to change that threatens revenue, no matter how strong the ethical case. But we also saw how informed, organized employee voices can shift internal narratives and create pressure for transparency.

Now, from the outside, we’re focused on expanding that pressure – connecting employees, investors, policymakers, and the public to demand accountability. Change happens when reputational, regulatory, and financial incentives align toward responsibility.

CWR: Lastly, what do you hope to accomplish in the next few years? Are there any actions you’d like to see the public or private sector actors take?

HA: Our goal over the next few years is to make enabled emissions impossible to ignore.

Disclosure for tech-enabled fossil fuel emissions!

That means pushing for public disclosure of tech-enabled fossil fuel emissions, building international awareness, and helping shape policies that prevent AI from driving climate harm.

We’d like to see governments adopt rules similar to financial disclosures – requiring companies to account for and report these indirect but massive emissions. And we hope the public continues to demand that technology serve the clean energy transition, not stand in its way. And of course, we hope to get funded for our work!

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