AI Boom Drives 150 Percent Surge in Big Tech Emissions

AI emissions could exceed those of some countries in the near future.

A new report from the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has revealed a 150 percent average increase in indirect carbon emissions from four leading AI-focused tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta - between 2020 and 2023.

The spike is largely attributed to the high energy demands of AI systems and data centers, which account for a rising portion of global electricity consumption.

AI and machine learning contributed 0.2 percent of global emissions in 2021, which even then was about 10 percent of the entire tech sector. It has accelerated from there.

Among the worst performers, Amazon's operational emissions increased by 182 percent over the 2020-2023 period, followed by Microsoft (155 percent), Meta (145 percent) and Alphabet (138 percent).

These include both direct emissions from company operations and those associated with their purchased electricity use (indirect).

The ITU says unchecked AI expansion could result in annual emissions reaching 102.6 million tons of CO2 equivalent - comparable to the yearly emissions of some midsized industrialized nations.

Currently, no international standards or regulations require companies to report emissions specifically attributable to AI systems or their energy use, leaving significant blind spots in accountability.

This is an issue MES Computing’s sister site Computing has grappled with in its annual Cloud Sustainability metrics, which this year was expanded to include vendors outside just U.S. hyperscalers.

"Currently, there are no standards or legislative requirements for companies to disclose their AI emissions or energy consumption, which makes understanding the impact of AI on company-level energy use less straightforward," the ITU report says.

"However, data from company reports show an increasing trend in operational emissions for companies with a high level of AI adoption."

The report is based on disclosures from 164 of the world's 200 largest digital companies and includes a detailed assessment of energy consumption.

In 2024, tech companies consumed an estimated 581 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity – about 2.1 percent of global power demand – with just 10 companies accounting for more than half (51.9 percent) of that total.

These top energy consumers include China Mobile, Amazon, Samsung Electronics, China Telecom, Alphabet, Microsoft, TSMC, China Unicom, SK Hynix, and Meta.

Data centers – the physical backbone of AI and cloud services – are identified as a central pressure point.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA) figures cited in the report, data center electricity consumption has increased about 12 percent annually since 2017, reaching 415 TWh in 2023.

If this growth continues, data centers could use 945 TWh by 2030, surpassing the total annual electricity consumption of Japan.

"The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving a sharp rise in global electricity demand, with electricity use by data centers increasing four times faster than the overall rise in electricity consumption," the report found.

In total, the 166 companies that publicly disclosed their emissions were responsible for 297 million tons of CO2 equivalent in 2023 – equivalent to the combined emissions of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

In light of the ITU's findings on the digital revolution's environmental cost, there are heightened demands for governments and industry leaders to establish clear sustainability standards and transparent emissions reporting frameworks for new technologies.

The report is expected to intensify pressure on major digital companies and regulators to prioritize sustainable AI development, and to bring greater transparency to the environmental costs of digital infrastructure.

This article originally appeared on our sister site Computing.