This is a joint article by Microsoft and Securitas.
When most people think about decarbonizing a hyperscale datacenter, they think about energy – renewable electricity, battery storage, and carbon-free power purchase agreements. They think about materials, construction, and hardware supply chains. Rarely do they think about the people on the ground – working around the clock – to keep those facilities safe.
For Microsoft, that connection is clear.
Securitas provides physical security services across more than 400 Microsoft datacenter sites globally – managing a workforce of over 8,500 professionals who are integral to the safe, continuous operation of cloud infrastructure. It’s not a peripheral role. It’s foundational. And that’s exactly why, when Microsoft’s Cloud Operations + Innovation (CO+I) Sustainability team set out to drive progress on Scope 3 emissions – which represent roughly 86% of Microsoft’s total emissions footprint – Securitas was a natural, and critical, partner in that conversation.
The ask: Ambitious, but not unreasonable
In 2020, Microsoft made a bold public commitment: to be carbon negative by 2030. For a company of Microsoft’s scale, achieving that target means looking beyond its own operations. It means engaging the suppliers, vendors, and service providers woven into every layer of the business. Microsoft further requires these suppliers to reduce their Microsoft delivered goods and services’ absolute GHG emissions by a minimum of 55% by 2030 as part of its Supplier Code of Conduct.
That is why, in 2024, Microsoft’s CO+I Sustainability team reached out to Securitas with a direct and candid ask: Align your emissions reduction roadmap to ours.
It wasn’t a checkbox exercise. Microsoft was asking Securitas to raise its environmental ambitions significantly.
At the time, Securitas had publicly committed to a 42% absolute emissions reduction by 2030 across its overall business. Microsoft’s Supplier Code of Conduct set a higher expectation: a 55% absolute emissions reduction by 2030 for the goods and services provided to Microsoft. While these commitments applied to different scopes, closing that gap still called for added investment, operational change, and a deeper level of commitment from Securitas in support of Microsoft’s goals.
What happened next is what makes this story worth telling.
Securitas' response: Investment, transparency, and a new internal infrastructure
Rather than viewing Microsoft’s request as a challenge, Securitas leadership saw it as an opportunity. Under the stewardship of Mark Plesnicher and Christian Cook (executive sponsors and relationship owners within CO+I), the Securitas account team matured its day-to-day environmental commitment through the actions described below. The result was a continued expansion of the corporate partnership in ways neither party had originally anticipated.
Securitas took decisive steps that set this collaboration apart:
Raising the target
For the Microsoft account specifically, Securitas revised its emissions reduction commitment upward, moving toward the Supplier Code of Conduct expectation of a 55% absolute reduction target by 2030 for the services they provide Microsoft, nearly closing the 13-percentage-point gap that existed at the outset. This wasn’t a modest adjustment. It required Securitas to revisit investment plans, supply chain decisions, and operational strategies at the Microsoft-account level.
Building internal governance – the Sustainability Steering Committee
One of the most tangible signals of Securitas’ commitment was the launch of a dedicated Sustainability Steering Committee for the Microsoft datacenter account, formally launched in April 2025. Led by Sr. Director of People Experience and Sustainability, Crystal Rausch, and sponsored by executive leadership, the committee brings together representatives from across the embedded Securitas team: Compliance, Human Resources (HR), Logistics, Operations, Environment Health and Safety (EHS), Training, Branch Engagement, Tech Communications, and Business Analytics.
This isn’t a working group in name only. Strategic initiatives are tracked by an embedded project manager, with regular updates flowing to both Securitas leadership and Microsoft. It is, in essence, a sustainability operating model built specifically for this services relationship.
The bigger picture: What this means for Scope 3
For Microsoft, this partnership is a proof of concept – and a model for the future.
Scope 3 emissions are notoriously difficult to influence precisely because they sit outside a company’s direct control. They live in supplier decisions across three areas: fleet operations, energy choices, and operational efficiency. Driving progress requires something more than policy mandates. It requires trust, investment in relationships, and the willingness to meet suppliers where they are.
“With thousands of security professionals supporting Microsoft datacenters around the world, we have both a responsibility and an opportunity. For us, reducing emissions at the service level is not just about meeting targets – it’s about rethinking how we deploy people, manage mobility, and operate on site so we can build a security model that supports our clients’ goals while continuously improving how we deliver value.”
- Sune Chabert Larsen, Chief Ethics & Sustainability Officer at Securitas
"Our datacenter supply chain partners, such as Securitas, are essential to delivering on our customer commitments – and their close focus on sustainability is instrumental in helping us meet our own sustainability goals. By aligning shared priorities and embedding sustainability into day-to-day operations, we are demonstrating how supplier collaboration can drive meaningful, scalable impact across our datacenter portfolio."
- Christian Cook, Partner, Datacenter Physical Security, Microsoft Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I)
What Securitas has demonstrated – through elevated targets, new governance structures, third-party verified disclosures, and an openness to technology-enabled transformation – is that a service supplier can be a genuine sustainability partner. Through AI augmentation, advanced analytics, and connected intelligence, we are reshaping security into a smarter, lighter, and more sustainable model of service – proof that innovation and responsibility can move together. Not just a vendor meeting a checklist, but a collaborator building toward a shared future.
What’s next
The Securitas–Microsoft sustainability journey is still in motion. Both teams are working on:
- Deepening the decarbonization roadmap, with Securitas’ steering committee actively outlining account-specific emissions reduction initiatives across EV fleet adoption, energy efficiency, and operations.
- Enhancing account-level emissions reporting at the Microsoft datacenter account level.
