Meet Melanie Nakagawa, Microsoft’s Forward-Thinking CSO
By James Darley Published March 20, 2025
As one of the world’s largest companies, Microsoft shoulders significant responsibility for global sustainability efforts. Melanie Nakagawa, the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), has been at the helm of these initiatives since 2023 and has already made a substantial impact.
Melanie Nakagawa, CSO at Microsoft, ranks #2 in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 Women list
Nakagawa is reshaping how technology companies approach environmental responsibility and climate action. She champions a tech-driven strategy to address climate change, advocating for the use of technology to measure, report, and optimize environmental performance across Microsoft’s operations and supply chains.
Melanie Nakagawa’s Background
Before joining Microsoft, Nakagawa amassed a wealth of experience in government, policy, and corporate sustainability roles. She served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy on the National Security Council during the Biden administration. Prior to that, she was Head of Climate Initiative at Princeville Capital, where she focused on investments in innovative climate technologies and also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Transformation in the US State Department under the Obama administration.
Microsoft’s Sustainability Commitments
Under Nakagawa’s leadership, Microsoft has established some of the world’s most ambitious corporate climate goals. The company aims to become carbon-negative by 2030 and to remove all historical carbon emissions since its founding by 2050. To accelerate the development of carbon reduction technologies, Nakagawa oversees Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, which allocates US$1 billion to these initiatives. She also manages the company’s water-positive initiatives, encompassing numerous water replenishment and water access projects worldwide.
Nakagawa is also a vocal proponent of efforts to close the gender disparity in the field of sustainability. “For me, sustainability is truly a team sport,” she says.
The Role of Technology in Climate Action
In early 2025, Nakagawa discussed the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in Microsoft’s sustainability plans. She acknowledged that the company’s AI investments were, in the short term, making achieving these goals more challenging.
However, she emphasized her belief that AI is ultimately the tool that will help humanity mitigate the effects of climate change. “The force creating this distance from our goals in the short term is the same one that will help us build a bigger, faster and more powerful rocket to reach them in the long term: artificial intelligence,” she explained.
Nakagawa’s vision centers on using technology as a powerful tool for environmental good, highlighting Microsoft’s AI-driven climate tools, carbon capture investments, and nature-based solutions. “AI is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to develop and scale innovative solutions that can move the needle on addressing climate change and related Sustainable Development Goals,” she asserts.
Additionally, under her guidance, Microsoft continues to advance initiatives like the Planetary Computer, which uses AI and cloud computing to analyze environmental data to monitor ecosystem health and inform conservation efforts globally.
Melanie’s Influence on Global Sustainability
Nakagawa’s influence extends beyond Microsoft’s corporate boundaries. She is a respected voice in climate leadership and speaks frequently at major sustainability summits such as COP conferences and the World Economic Forum. She emphasizes the importance of cross-sector partnerships, highlighting that addressing climate change requires collaboration between governments, businesses, civil society, and communities.
This collaborative approach reflects her belief that combining technological solutions with policy innovation and community engagement is key to driving meaningful environmental impact.
Melanie’s Vision for the Future
Nakagawa envisions a future where digital technology plays a critical role in solving the world’s climate challenges. She supports Microsoft’s commitment to AI-powered sustainability solutions, with aspirations of driving advancements in carbon reduction, water conservation, and circular economy models.
Nakagawa remains a transparent and communicative sustainability leader. “Our ambitious 2030 targets to become carbon negative, water positive, zero waste and to protect biodiversity require continued innovation across every aspect of our operations, and we’re committed to sharing what we learn along the way,” she says.
