By Tag Clar Editorial
This week, concerning news about the sharp increase in CO2 pollution at two American tech giants, Google and Amazon, has been reported. These two large companies have shown with new figures that their pollution has significantly increased since 2019. Specifically, Google's pollution has increased by 82% and Amazon's by 58%.
Why Has Pollution Increased?
This increase in pollution is particularly due to the construction of data centers related to artificial intelligence, which has a growing demand. In other words, these companies are facing a major challenge while trying to achieve their climate goals. Google, which aims to halve its pollution by 2030, and Amazon, which aims to reach a net-zero carbon status by 2040, are now in a position where their pollution is rising faster than their revenue.
Specifically, Google emitted 18.8 million tons of CO2 last year, part of which is related to the company's data centers and offices, and a significant portion to the supply chain and production of chips and servers. Amazon, with 80.85 million tons of CO2, is particularly represented in this statistic from its warehousing and logistics sector.
Worrying Outlook
Interestingly, Google's electricity consumption has doubled in the past three years, equivalent to that of a small country like Greece. Additionally, Amazon's pollution has increased by over 40% in just one year due to the construction of data centers. Now, it remains to be seen whether these tech giants can counter this worrying trend or if their climate goals will be forgotten.
