The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, May 7, edition that unnamed sources say Microsoft might abandon a key clean-energy target to eliminate obstacles in its data center efforts. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that Microsoft is weighing whether to delay -- or even abandon altogether -- its 2030 target of matching 100 per cent of its hourly electricity use with renewable energy purchases. The expensive and energy-heavy construction of data centres is impacting the feasibility of climate commitments set before the artificial intelligence era. Talks inside Microsoft are ongoing and no final decision has been made, they also said. A Microsoft spokesman said the company continues to look for opportunities to maintain an annual matching goal, without commenting on the much tougher hourly commitment. Such a retreat would mark a significant shift. Big Tech has long stood out for its public embrace of some unusually ambitious emissions-cutting goals, with Microsoft even pledging to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits. But as companies including Amazon and Meta try to secure enough energy to meet the demands of artificial intelligence, the appeal of natural gas has been growing.