(Bloomberg) — Amazon’s carbon emissions rose for the primary time in three years in 2024, pushed by information heart development and gas consumption by its supply suppliers.
The world’s largest on-line retailer emitted 68.25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equal final yr, up 6% from the prior yr, Amazon stated in its annual sustainability report, which was printed on Wednesday. The corporate’s emissions final yr have been up by a 3rd since Amazon pledged in 2019 to remove them by 2040.
The corporate and its high-tech rivals are spending closely on information facilities to energy synthetic intelligence purposes, which require loads of concrete and metal, two supplies that use lots of power to supply.
Environmental watchdogs have raised the alarm because the AI information heart growth helped supercharge electrical energy demand, and, in some areas, breathed new life into pure fuel and coal-fired energy. These power sources had fallen out of favor amongst tech corporations lately as they pledged to search out cleaner sources and 0 out their influence on carbon emissions.
Amazon and fellow data-center giants Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft have additionally signed offers to scoop up carbon-free nuclear energy within the coming years.
Amazon’s emissions from bought electrical energy rose 1% final yr, the primary enhance for the reason that firm started reporting the determine in 2019, “partly as a result of larger electrical energy utilization required to help superior applied sciences.”
“This underscores why it’s necessary to scale carbon-free power sources to proceed to ship the superior applied sciences our clients want,” Amazon stated within the report.
