Google and Amazon Carbon Emissions Rise as AI Expansion Strains Net-Zero Goals

Google's carbon emissions rose 25% and Amazon's rose 16% year-on-year, according to sustainability reports released this week, as the high energy consumption of artificial intelligence significantly pushes up emissions for both companies, putting substantial pressure on their net-zero targets. The reports indicate that Google's emissions increased 25% compared to last year, while Amazon's rose 16%. Both companies have committed to achieving net-zero emissions, but the rapid expansion of AI businesses has made these goals much harder to reach. The reports do not directly attribute the rise in emissions to AI, but multiple data points point to a connection. Both companies confirmed that overall energy consumption rose significantly last year as AI usage increased, with emissions growth mainly coming from Scope 3 categories, including data center construction, GPU procurement, and related supply chain links. Google's Scope 3 emissions have doubled compared to its 2019 baseline, adding 2.1 million tons last year; Amazon's Scope 3 emissions saw an even more pronounced increase, primarily due to data center and warehouse expansion. The company revealed that in 2025, to meet customer demand, it added more global data center capacity than any other enterprise, adding over 1.2 gigawatts in the fourth quarter alone. In the past, renewable energy procurement could relatively easily offset emissions from offices and small- to medium-sized data centers. However, driven by AI, the scale of data centers has expanded dramatically, and the high-energy, high-pollution gases produced by steel and cement production as well as Asian chip factories have become new carbon sources that are difficult to offset quickly. The reports also noted that tech companies are increasing investments in natural gas power generation to meet AI electricity demand, further compounding the challenge of achieving net-zero emissions. Market risk exists, and investment should be cautious. This article is generated by AI based on third-party data and is for reference only and does not constitute personal investment advice.