AI data center build-out drives emissions rise at Microsoft, Amazon, Google
Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions rose nearly a fifth in the past year, according to the companies’ annual sustainability reports released over recent weeks. The increases reverse a period in which the three companies’ emissions had appeared to plateau, with Microsoft’s having held at about 16 million tonnes in both 2023 and 2024.
The three companies’ emissions rose during a global boom in data center construction to meet demand for artificial intelligence. Microsoft, Amazon and Google are on track to spend $765 billion this year, mostly on constructing AI data centers in locations from Norway to North Tyneside, according to the reports.
In its report released Thursday, Microsoft said its carbon emissions rose 25% to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, “driven primarily by the expansion of our datacentre infrastructure.” Google reported an 18% increase, which it attributed to “increases in supply chain activities that supported the rapid expansion of our business.” Amazon reported a 16% rise in overall emissions and a 20% increase in supply chain emissions, which included data center construction, though the company described this as “making progress” toward its goal of net-zero emissions by 2040.
As MSI previously reported in March, the surge in demand for cloud computing and AI infrastructure has strained tech companies’ climate goals globally. The Uptime Institute, which rates and inspects data centers, estimates that large data center projects announced last year would consume 1.3% of the world’s electricity usage, representing a near-doubling of current data center demand. The majority of that new power demand will come from U.S. projects, it said.
Cecilia Rikap, an economics professor at University College London, said the companies’ claims about their clouds being ecologically friendly were a marketing strategy. “Governments should remember these expanding carbon footprints when the very same companies offer addressing the ecological crisis with AI solutions,” Rikap said. She added that as other companies migrate to the cloud, they are “outsourcing their own digital/AI carbon footprint to cloud giants,” allowing those organizations to obscure their environmental impact.
Shaolei Ren, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Riverside, said the emissions increases are “strongly correlated with [the companies’] AI investment.” Ren noted that Microsoft’s sustainability report suggested there were fewer carbon credits available on global markets to offset emissions, pointing to a “possible lack of credit supply in the carbon market to meet the technology companies’ needs.”
All three companies say they still aim to achieve net-zero emissions: Google and Microsoft by 2030, Amazon by 2040.