Big Tech Like Google and Amazon Produce 662% More CO2 Than They Declare

CO2 emissions from Big Tech data centers ( Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Amazon ) could be much higher than officially reported, exceeding official figures by as much as 7.62 times.

According to an investigation by the Guardian, these companies produce 662% more carbon dioxide than their official reports. If considered together, their total emissions would place them as the 33rd most polluting country in the world, surpassing Algeria and touching the Philippines.

The role of artificial intelligence in the increaseing of CO2 emissions

A major driver of this surge in CO2 emissions is the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). AI applications consume massive amounts of energy in data centers, far more than traditional cloud-based operations. For example, a ChatGPT query requires nearly ten times the electricity of a Google search, according to Goldman Sachs.

It’s no surprise then that data center energy demand is expected to increase 160% by 2030. Morgan Stanley estimates that global data center emissions will reach 2.5 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent over the same period.

Big Tech CO2 Emissions Accounting

How do you explain these discrepancies between actual and declared CO2 emissions? A common example is the use of renewable energy certificates: companies buy these certificates to declare “clean” consumption without actually reducing their emissions. If you analyze emissions based on the physical location of data centers, without the certificates, the numbers are much higher.

And while Google and Microsoft have announced the progressive elimination of these certificates, committing to reach net zero emissions by 2030, Amazon and Meta have not done the same.

The case of Amazon

Amazon is a special case: its data centers, which generate more than half of the company’s operating revenue through Amazon Web Services, are not the main source of its CO2 emissions. Logistics and retail distribution are the biggest. For this reason, even though Amazon alone produces nearly as much as the other Big Tech companies combined, it was excluded from the calculation of excess CO2 emissions.

It is important to note that these numbers already exclude Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions related to the construction and maintenance of data centers, as well as logistics and products.

The Uncertain Future of Data Center Energy

According to the Electric Power Research Institute, the increase in data center energy demand could lead to a doubling of electricity consumption by 2030. Marc Ganzi, CEO of DigitalBridge, recently stated that the entire sector could run out of energy resources in the next two years if the focus on AI development is solely geared towards profit.

And the slow pace at which energy infrastructure is being renewed – stalled in some countries like Italy also due to bureaucratic issues – risks making it impossible to meet this growing demand even for companies most intent on switching to renewable energy.

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(Featured image by geralt via Pixabay)

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