UN report finds tech giants increased carbon emissions by average of 150%
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing is driving a surge in energy consumption by large tech companies. These digital advances come at a hefty ecological price. According to a recent UN report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), CO₂ emissions from the biggest tech players rose by an average of 150% between 2020 and 2023. The cause? The huge investment in AI applications and data centres. These infrastructures consume large amounts of power.
Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet experienced emissions increases of 182%, 155%, 145% and 138%, respectively, over the period surveyed. These figures combine direct emissions from their operations and emissions via purchased electricity.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the ITU, called AI a double-edged sword. The technology offers enormous potential, but powerful AI systems together can emit up to more than 100 million tons of CO₂ per year.
This presents government with a major problem: There are hardly any rules or standards for reporting energy consumption and emissions from AI systems. As a result, their true climate impact remains partly unknown. Nevertheless, the available figures show a clear trend: the more AI, the higher the emissions.
The rising demand for power is not limited to tech companies. The entire data centre ecosystem is growing exponentially. Since 2017, the power consumption of data centres has been increasing at an average annual rate of 12%. By 2023, they will collectively consume 415 terawatt hours (TWh), accounting for 1.5% of global electricity consumption.
If this trend continues, data centres could consume up to 945TWh per year by 2030 – more than all of Japan today.
In 2024, digital businesses consumed an estimated 581TWh, or 2.1% of global demand. Remarkably, 10 major players, including China Mobile, Amazon, Samsung and Alphabet, accounted for more than half (51.9%) of that total consumption in 2023.
Their combined climate impact is huge. For 166 of the 200 tech companies surveyed, total emissions in 2023 were 297 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. That’s as much as the annual emissions of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile combined.
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