Google and Amazon last week reported sharp increases in greenhouse gas emissions, driven by the frantic construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure that is pushing the tech giants further from their carbon neutrality pledges.
Google’s total emissions, disclosed last Tuesday, have jumped 82 per cent since 2019, and more than 18 per cent just last year, even though it has committed to cutting them in half by 2030.
Amazon’s emissions, published last Wednesday, have risen 58 per cent over the same period, and more than 16 per cent last year, despite a pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2040.
Another sign that the problem is getting worse: both companies now pollute more for every dollar they generate in revenue.
In other words, their emissions are rising faster than their sales – a first since at least 2021 for Amazon.
“Our AI infrastructure buildout is currently accelerating faster than the grid is decarbonising,” Kate Brandt, Google’s chief sustainability officer, said in a blog post announcing the company’s annual environmental report.
Her counterpart at Amazon, Kara Hurst, likewise said in the e-commerce giant’s own report that demand for AI products could “slow us down” when it comes to the company’s environmental ambitions.
In total, Google emitted 18.8 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent last year, which comes partly from its data centres and offices but primarily from its supply chain for chip and server manufacturing and the construction of new centres by its suppliers.
Amazon emitted 80.85 million tonnes, from the same cloud computing activities, plus its warehouses, logistics fleet, and deliveries around the world.
“One thing we can count on with companies is that they will pursue profits,” Sytske Wijnsma, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley’s graduate school of business, told Agence France-Presse. Her research is focused on supply chain sustainability, particularly the growing demand for critical minerals.
On the one hand, that creates an incentive for corporations to cut their operational costs – like energy.
Companies will invest in more sustainable options if it reduces costs, Wijnsma said, which can be “a win-win” for them and the environment.
The bigger issue, she continued, is their supply chains, which they don’t directly control.
“They need to find a way to fill that gap between the demand and the supply” of resources, like energy and critical minerals, Wijnsma said. “The gap can be filled by making your chips and data centres more efficient” or by tapping into more readily available options like fossil fuels.
A global effort
Earlier this month, a United Nations report found that data centres worldwide use so much energy that only 10 countries each consume more, making AI the 11th largest energy consumer globally.
By 2030, AI data centres are expected to become the sixth largest energy user around the world.
“It is time to come clean,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said during a speech on June 23 during London Climate Week. “If AI is to help build a better future, it must be honest about what it costs us now.”
Guterres launched an AI Environmental Transparency Initiative and urged every major AI company to measure and publicly disclose their environmental impact as well as commit to powering every data centre with renewable energy by 2030.
The issue affects the entire sector, including Meta and Microsoft which are expected to publish their own reports soon.
The global AI race, which accelerated after the meteoric launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, is pushing tech giants to multiply data centres – facilities that consume large amounts of electricity, water for cooling, concrete, steel and chips.
Google’s electricity consumption has doubled in three years and nearly matches that of a country like Greece. Amazon’s emissions linked to the construction of data centres have soared by more than 40 per cent in a single year.
In their voluminous annual reports, both companies tout their efforts.
Google says it signed a record volume of “clean” electricity contracts last year and invests in nuclear and geothermal power.
Amazon, for its part, presents itself as the world’s largest buyer of renewable energy for the sixth year in a row, invests in small nuclear reactors, and claims to have more than 52,000 electric trucks.
