AI’s soaring power demands push Amazon’s emissions higher
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Amazon’s carbon emissions increased 6 percent in 2024, ending a three-year run lower. The tech and retail titan emitted 68.25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the year, according to its annual sustainability report, which was released Wednesday, well above its 2023 output. The spike results from an explosion in data center construction to support the growing demand for artificial intelligence technologies. These sites consume vast amounts of energy and raw materials, including enormous amounts of steel and concrete, two of the materials that are also most carbon-intensive to produce. The new data underscore a growing tightening at Amazon. The company had publicly pledged to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040 as part of its Climate Pledge, a much-heralded effort that set a bar for corporate climate action. But five years later, Amazon’s emissions had grown by a third. AI’s soaring power demands push Amazon’s emissions higher The Amazon report also admitted that, considering the company’s electricity purchases, its emissions will increase by 1 percent in 2024. It was the first time it had observed growth in that category since it began tracking it in 2019. The energy antenna focuses more on the power-greedy aspect of AI workloads, explaining to a large extent the boost in electricity consumption. The large AI models are trained across enormous computing resources, creating extravagant electricity consumption at data centers. In the report, Amazon acknowledged that it is crucial for collective efforts to reduce energy peaks and expand access to green, carbon-free energy to continue supporting the advanced technologies their customers rely on. And for all the money Amazon has thrown at renewable energy, including wind and solar projects around the globe, the company is finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the headlong growth of AI. The rest of big tech, including…
Filed under: News - @ July 17, 2025 12:24 am