Amazon's AI expansion drives emissions to record high
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Amazon's greenhouse gas emissions rose sharply last year as the company raced to expand AI infrastructure.
Why it matters: Amazon's annual environmental report, released a day after Google's report unveiled similar increases, adds to mounting evidence that AI growth is making it harder for tech giants to maintain climate ambition.
Driving the news: Just like Google, Amazon's aggregate growth in data center capacity is outpacing its stated efficiency gains.
- Amazon said it added more data center capacity globally than any company last year, while insisting it continues to improve efficiency.
By the numbers: Amazon's greenhouse gas emissions rose more than 16% last year, a record jump fueled largely by a 34% increase in electricity and a 20% increase from manufacturing supply chains.
- In a new disclosure this year, Amazon said its data centers withdrew 2.48 billion gallons of water, meaning at least some of that was returned to the community and not consumed.
- It also said a metric used to measure water efficiency at data centers improved 20% since 2024, and more than 50% since 2021.
Catch up quick: The AI race is intensifying scrutiny of the growing energy and water demands tied to data centers.
Between the lines: Amazon's report is considerably shorter and generally offers less discussion of its environmental metrics than Google's, although the companies emphasize and disclose different measures.
- Google's report spans 117 pages versus Amazon's 51.
Zoom out: Amazon's environmental footprint extends well beyond data centers because of its global logistics and retail operations, which sets it apart from other tech giants in the AI race.
- Amazon also said it has deployed more than 52,700 electric delivery vans, putting it just over halfway toward its goal of 100,000 by 2030.
What we're watching: Microsoft's sustainability report — due out in the coming weeks — is the next major test revealing how much AI's environmental footprint is growing across the industry.
