Kenneth Glad
The rush to build more computing capacity is changing the environmental math for major companies. Power use, construction and supply chains are now central to the debate.
Artificial intelligence is not just another phase of cloud growth. Unlike earlier digital expansions, the current race requires dense computing hubs, specialized hardware and constant electricity demand at a scale that is difficult to match with clean power quickly.
The Los Angeles Times, citing company sustainability reports, reports that Amazon and Google posted sharp emissions increases in 2025.
Amazon’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 16% from 2024 to about 81 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, while Google reported an 18% rise in its “ambition-based” emissions.
Investors want clearer answers
Shareholders have begun asking how those numbers fit with climate promises made before the AI boom accelerated.
Investors pressed Amazon, Alphabet and Meta to explain how surging electricity demand for AI aligns with their pledges, though the proposals failed to win majority support.
Microsoft and Meta have also reported major emissions increases while pursuing long-term environmental plans. Meta is aiming for net zero across its value chain by 2030, while Google has set a 2030 goal and Amazon is aiming for 2040.
Electricity remains one of the clearest pressure points. Google’s power consumption rose 37% last year, though cleaner energy purchases helped it slightly lower emissions from purchased electricity. Amazon reported a 34% rise in emissions linked to bought power.
Building brings emissions too
The carbon cost begins before a facility opens. Google linked a 25% rise in Scope 3 supply-chain emissions mostly to hardware manufacturing and data center construction.
The Los Angeles Times report also said data center expansion is affecting utility bills and encouraging investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, including natural gas plants. It cited SpaceX’s use of gas turbines for AI data centers in Tennessee and Mississippi.
For climate researchers, the concern is that the sector is adding pollution while the broader economy is under pressure to cut it.
Sasha Luccioni, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Sustainable AI Group, said: “We’re essentially in a climate crisis and we should not be having emissions growth at all, arguably, and yet the data centers are going in the opposite direction.”
The companies say the build-out has not changed their long-term ambitions, even as the timeline becomes harder to manage. Google said its path to net zero will be uneven, “given our AI infrastructure build-out is currently accelerating faster than the grid is decarbonizing.”
Amazon’s chief sustainability officer, Kara Hurst, said: “While the speed and scale of AI adoption is unique — and the change is happening faster and more broadly than anything else we’ve encountered in our lifetimes — the need to stay stubborn on our vision and flexible on the details is familiar territory.”
As AI investment continues to accelerate, technology companies are likely to face increasing scrutiny over whether emissions can be reduced quickly enough to keep pace with the industry’s rapid expansion.
Sources: Los Angeles Times
