Datacentres drive up big tech's carbon emissions to a third of those of France
News Source
β’Sat, 11 Jul 2026 11:00:49 GMT
π° What Happened
Microsoft, Amazon, and Google's combined carbon emissions rose to 119 million metric tons this year. That is about one third of France's total emissions. The number jumped by nearly 20 percent from last year's 101 million tons. The main reason is the boom in building and running datacenters. These facilities power cloud services and AI products that need huge amounts of electricity.
π The Backstory
All three companies have promised to reach net-zero carbon emissions. But the AI boom is making that goal much harder. Training and running AI models requires massive computing power, which means more energy use. An economics professor at University College London said the companies' claims about being eco-friendly are mostly marketing. She warned that as more businesses move to the cloud, they are just outsourcing their own pollution to these tech giants.
π― Why It Matters
Every time you use AI, search the web, or stream video, it runs on servers that burn energy. More AI means more pollution, and that affects the climate everyone shares.
Microsoft, Amazon, and Google's combined carbon emissions rose to 119 million metric tons this year. That is about one third of France's total emissions. The number jumped by nearly 20 percent from last year's 101 million tons. The main reason is the boom in building and running datacenters. These facilities power cloud services and AI products that need huge amounts of electricity.
All three companies have promised to reach net-zero carbon emissions. But the AI boom is making that goal much harder. Training and running AI models requires massive computing power, which means more energy use. An economics professor at University College London said the companies' claims about being eco-friendly are mostly marketing. She warned that as more businesses move to the cloud, they are just outsourcing their own pollution to these tech giants.
Every time you use AI, search the web, or stream video, it runs on servers that burn energy. More AI means more pollution, and that affects the climate everyone shares.