Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have acknowledged that rapidly rising demand for artificial intelligence is making it harder to uphold earlier pledges to avoid increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. The Associated Press reported that, as these firms expand data‑center capacity, many are turning to fossil‑fuel power—particularly natural gas—to meet immediate energy needs. (Disclaimer: Andrew Ng is a member of Amazon’s board of directors.)
How company actions affect emissions
Electricity consumption among the largest tech firms has climbed substantially in recent years, and total greenhouse‑gas emissions have risen even as companies invest in emissions reductions. While they have emphasized wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear sources, the jump in energy demand for AI workloads has pushed some toward building natural‑gas power plants in the near term.
-
Alphabet described its net‑zero 2030 target as a “moonshot” in its 2024 Environmental Report; the company had earlier abandoned a pledge to maintain carbon‑neutral operations. Although 66 percent of the energy for Alphabet’s data centers and offices came from carbon‑free sources in 2024 and its emissions per unit of computation fell dramatically, the company’s total greenhouse‑gas emissions rose 54 percent between 2019 and 2024. Reports indicate an Alphabet data center in North Texas will be partly powered by natural‑gas plants. Alphabet has invested in next‑generation geothermal and nuclear options, but those are not yet available at the scale needed.
-
Amazon’s latest Sustainability Report identified growing energy demand as one of the biggest challenges to scaling AI. Amazon has invested in natural‑gas plants in Mississippi and Indiana to supply nearby data centers. The company regards nuclear energy as a key element of becoming carbon‑neutral, but planned nuclear sources are not expected online until the 2030s. Amazon’s total carbon emissions have increased by 33 percent since 2019.
-
Meta’s recent sustainability report emphasized that reaching net zero depends on new technologies, suppliers and global collaboration. Meta is building private gas‑fired plants to power data centers, including what it calls its largest yet — a 5‑gigawatt facility in rural Louisiana. The company has invested in projects that could support up to 6.6 gigawatts of new and existing clean energy by 2035, including geothermal, nuclear and energy storage to better integrate wind and solar. Meta’s total emissions rose by more than 60 percent between 2020 and 2024, while its data‑center electricity use nearly tripled.
-
Microsoft’s earlier sustainability reports stressed progress toward removing more greenhouse gases than it emits by 2030, but its most recent edition framed the goal as a “marathon, not a sprint.” Microsoft signed an agreement with Chevron to build a natural‑gas power plant even after it entered a 20‑year purchase agreement to restart the New York Three Mile Island nuclear reactors, which are expected to come online in 2027. Since 2020 Microsoft’s total emissions have increased by 23 percent and its electricity consumption has more than doubled.
Background on corporate climate pledges
After the 2015 Paris Agreement, many corporations adopted public climate commitments. More than 600 companies signed The Climate Pledge—co‑founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019—committing to net‑zero greenhouse‑gas emissions by 2040. The Science‑Based Targets initiative, launched in 2015, asks companies to set targets aligned with the Paris goals. Major AI firms have embraced these frameworks and publish annual reports documenting their progress.
Why this matters
In 2024 data centers accounted for roughly 1.5 percent of global electricity consumption and about 4.4 percent in the United States; the U.S. share is projected to rise to as much as 12 percent within a few years. Big AI companies had expected to meet growing demand with clean energy, but the sudden surge in AI workloads has pushed many toward greater reliance on fossil fuels that emit climate‑altering greenhouse gases.
Closing note
Top AI firms have made meaningful investments in renewables and next‑generation sources such as nuclear and geothermal. Because those options are not yet scalable enough to meet immediate needs, companies are turning to natural gas plants to cover the gap — a concerning trend. Still, well‑managed data centers remain a highly efficient way to perform large amounts of computation, and further efficiency gains in AI could help offset rising emissions.
