Microsoft announced on September 16, 2026, that its nature-inspired restoration program was expanding to more than 20 data-center sites in the United States and Germany. The company says it plans to use the approach for all new U.S. data-center projects and a growing number of projects elsewhere.
Microsoft expands its nature-inspired program
Microsoft says the program began at a data center in the Netherlands in 2022. Its expansion announcement describes projects shaped by local ecological research, community input and knowledge of each site.
The measures vary by location: they include native planting, wetlands, restored streams, habitat corridors and stormwater features. Microsoft’s stated plan applies to all new U.S. projects and a growing number of projects elsewhere; the announcement names sites in the United States and Germany.
What restoration can involve at a data-center site
Microsoft describes its Azure-based Ecosystem Intelligence tool as helping quantify ecosystem functions such as water quality, biodiversity and noise abatement. The company presents it as part of a site-specific approach, alongside physical work such as planting and wetland restoration.
Reported projects, from Middenmeer to Virginia
At its Middenmeer site in the Netherlands, Microsoft reports planting 150 native trees and 2,300 square meters—about 24,800 square feet—of shrubs, grasses and groundcover.
For work in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, Microsoft reports more than 230 acres protected from development, eight acres of new wetlands, 185 acres of native pollinator habitat, more than 25,000 trees planted and 45 acres of forested buffers. These are figures for different parts of the project, not a combined acreage total.
San Antonio’s land-use context
A 2022 plan for a Microsoft data center in San Antonio called for removing 2,642 trees from a 33-acre tract. Separately, Microsoft reported an investment in more than 400 acres of woodland and pollinator-prairie restoration in San Antonio. The first figure describes a tree-removal plan; the second describes a company-reported restoration investment.
