AI Data Centres Threaten Big Tech’s Climate Goals and Net-Zero Plans

The rapid expansion of data centres powering artificial intelligence and cloud computing is threatening to undo Big Tech’s high-profile climate commitments, according to a new report from the NewClimate Institute.

Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have all made bold promises in recent years to slash their emissions and operate sustainably. But the growing energy and water demands of AI are putting those targets out of reach, the report warns.

“These companies seem to have lost their way with regard to climate strategies,” said Thomas Day, co-author of the report, in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The narrative has changed from ‘we’re fixed on the target’ to ‘we’re really not sure, but we’ll get there somehow."

Exploding Demand, Rising Emissions

The report paints a concerning picture. Data centres or massive buildings packed with servers and cooling systems, are expanding quickly to support AI tools, cloud services, and digital platforms. In 2014, North America had fewer than 1,500 data centres; today, the U.S. alone has more than 5,400.

Microsoft, for instance, has tripled its electricity usage since 2020 due to new data centre investments. Although it once called its 2020 sustainability goals a “moonshot,” the company now says “the moon has gotten further away.”

Amazon’s emissions have nearly doubled since 2019. Meta’s have more than doubled. Yet many of these companies continue to rely on market-based solutions like carbon credits and often leave out emissions from third-party operations, such as outsourced data centres, from their reporting.

“Several of the plans, rather than resulting in net zero, appear to address only half of projected emissions,” the report says. “And hazy accounting makes the gap hard to pin down.”

AI’s Growing Energy Footprint

A key driver of this emissions surge is AI. According to consultancy firm McKinsey, AI could consume 12% of the U.S.'s electricity by 2030. That’s a steep rise, made even more complicated by AI's irregular energy demands, often spiking based on trends or usage patterns.

Anurag K. Srivastava, a professor of computer science at West Virginia University, says this variability makes AI particularly challenging to power sustainably. “Gas is one source of energy that can ramp up and down quickly – you can’t do that with nuclear or others,” he explained. Solar could be part of the solution, but only where infrastructure exists, and only with large-scale battery storage.

This flexibility comes at a cost. Gas-powered systems that can handle these spikes often carry serious financial and environmental implications, especially for local communities.

Sustainability vs. Scale

While Big Tech continues to roll out sustainability initiatives, from Amazon’s water-saving and packaging reforms to Meta’s clean-energy projects, critics say these efforts don’t match the scale of the problem.

Amazon dismissed the NewClimate report as inaccurate, claiming a proven track record of transparency and adherence to global reporting standards. It also pointed out that AI is driving up energy use across industries, not just in tech.

Still, experts say the broader issue goes beyond data centres or AI.

“These companies are at the core of the digital economy — online shopping, digital ads, influencer culture — all of which fuel carbon-heavy lifestyles,” said Nick Dyer-Witheford, a professor at the University of Western Ontario.

Also Read: The Shift from Liquid to Dry Cooling in a Warming World

The Road Ahead

With more than half of U.S. data centres still running on fossil fuels, the urgency is growing. The International Energy Agency projects that data centre-driven energy demand, up 12% from 2017 to 2024, will double again by 2030, and nearly half of it will stem from AI.

Unless the tech giants overhaul their climate strategies and invest heavily in clean energy and efficiency, experts warn their net-zero goals may remain out of reach.

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Source: BNN Bloomberg