Tech giants see emissions surge 150 percent in 3 years amid AI boom: UN | Environment News

Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data centres led to a spike in electricity demand between 2020 and 2023.

The United Nations’ digital agency says that operational carbon emissions for the world’s top tech companies rose an average of 150 percent between 2020 and 2023 as investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres drove up global electricity demand.

Operational emissions for Amazon grew 182 percent in 2023 against 2020 levels, while emissions for Microsoft grew…