Two Meters, One Truth

+130%

Microsoft's location-based Scope 2 meter, FY2020→FY2024. The headline meter reports −43.2% for the same period. Same data centers, same power.

The GHG Protocol standard requires two emissions meters: a market-based one (netted with certificates and contracts) and a location-based one (what the grid actually delivered). Both are in the report. Only one goes above the press release — and the standard leaves that choice to the reporter.

Meter A · AS REPORTED (market-based, netted with certificates)

−43.2%

Meter B · AS THE GRID SAW IT (location-based)

+130.0%

Microsoft, Scope 2 emissions FY2020→FY2024, both meters mandated by the GHG Protocol. Which one leads the headline is the company's choice.

Meter A is the certificates’ shopping list. Meter B is what the grid saw. Only one of them makes the headline.

Google reports −11% year over year. Same meter, five-year window 2020→2024: +235.6%. Window choice is a choice too.

This is not fraud, and it is not an AI story — the discretion sits in every Scope 2 ledger. That is the point: it’s the standard.

// Sources

Microsoft 2025 Environmental Data Fact Sheet (Table 1A / Table 3) accessed 2026-07-11
Google 2025 Environmental Report (GHG inventory) accessed 2026-07-11
GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (§1.5.1 dual reporting, §7.4 purpose) accessed 2026-07-11
Meridian — Instrument 012 "The Two Meters" (source work, twin-invoice register) accessed 2026-07-11