AI’s Soaring Power Demands Drive Amazon’s Emissions Higher

Amazon's carbon emissions have surged by a third since its 2019 Climate Pledge commitment, driven by explosive growth in data center construction to meet AI demand. The company now forecasts a 1% rise in emissions for 2024—the first increase since it began tracking this metric.

Training massive AI models requires staggering energy consumption, with data centers devouring electricity and carbon-intensive materials like steel and concrete. Amazon acknowledges the paradox: its cloud infrastructure enables climate-friendly innovations while simultaneously straining global decarbonization efforts.

The report underscores a critical tension in tech sustainability. While Amazon pledges net-zero by 2040, the AI arms race threatens to outpace renewable energy adoption. The solution lies in accelerating clean energy deployment alongside efficiency breakthroughs in AI hardware.