No, Microsoft hasn’t made 825,000 carbon-neutral Xbox Series X consoles

In September of last year, as part of the United Nations’ Playing for the Planet Initiative, Microsoft committed to producing 825,000 carbon-neutral Xbox consoles. An admirable goal and a good first step for the company’s gaming arm, with a new and more powerful console on the horizon.

Microsoft has been particularly proactive in the climate change space with extensive sustainability reports detailing its commitment to reducing carbon emissions. His commitment to the Xbox console would see carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates used to save around 616,000 tons of carbon dioxide. A huge amount, equivalent to about 130,000 cars on the road for a year.

But on Monday, a user started a thread on the ResetEra forums linking to a Microsoft Story Lab project on the company’s sustainability initiatives. The thread, which began to gather steam on Monday, suggested that Xbox had produced 825,000 carbon-neutral Series X consoles. This is not true and goes back to Microsoft’s Story Lab project.

The project includes a slide with an image of the Xbox Series X, along with the statement “Xbox has created the world’s first carbon-neutral game console – actually 825,000 of them.”

But the statement and the image used to represent it are misleading.

Xbox have created 825,000 “carbon neutral” Xbox consoles, but this has nothing to do with the Xbox Series X. A Microsoft spokesperson told CNET that the pilot program “was carried out with Xbox One X consoles.”

So why promote this initiative with Series X? Was it just a marketing misstep? Was it deliberate? We cannot say. I asked Microsoft for an explanation but received no response. Now, after CNET and others raised concerns, Microsoft removed the Xbox Series X from the image on its website.

But why does it matter? We currently do not know the carbon emissions generated by the Xbox Series X. Microsoft publishes “Green Profiles” for its consumer devices, including the Xbox, which provide a figure for estimated emissions from manufacturing, energy use, recycling, and more. A Microsoft spokesperson told CNET in March that the green profile assessment for the X Series had not been done, because the final hardware and software for the system was “still in development.” We have no information on the X Series footprint.

And that is cause for concern. For the climate conscious consumer, it is impossible to discern how consoles are contributing (or not) to the climate crisis. Microsoft has committed to some ambitious climate goals as a company: How to reverse all your carbon emissions production by 2050 – but on the games side of the coin, it’s been particularly quiet. With only two months until launchIt would be nice to know how the next generation of trade shows goes, without all the smoke and mirrors.