US tech giants Google and Amazon have reported a sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2025, driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers. The rise challenges the companies' climate commitments, with Google warning that achieving its goals is "getting harder."
Google's carbon emissions jumped 16% year-on-year, according to its 2025 sustainability report released Tuesday. Kate Brandt, Google's chief sustainability officer, stated: "Our AI infrastructure buildout is currently accelerating faster than the grid is decarbonizing." Amazon followed with an 18% increase compared to 2024, as detailed in its own report.
Long-term trends are even starker: Amazon's emissions (80.85 million tons of CO2 equivalent) rose 58% from 2019, while Google's (18.8 million tons) surged 82% over the same period. Amazon's emissions now exceed those of entire countries like Austria (71 million tons) or Greece (71.5 million tons).
Both companies have heavily invested in AI data center construction. Amazon's emissions from purchased electricity rose 34% last year, attributed to the data center boom and electrification of its delivery network. Google cited the resources needed to build and run data centers, as well as chip and server supply chains, for its growing carbon footprint.
The surge casts doubt on the companies' climate goals. Amazon aims for net-zero carbon by 2040, but Kara Hurst, its chief sustainability officer, acknowledged new hurdles: "We may be able to move faster — or the demand may slow us down." Google pledged to halve its 2019-level emissions by 2030.
Despite the setbacks, both firms attempted to spin the data favorably. Google claimed that without its decarbonization initiatives, 2025 emissions would have been five times higher. Amazon said its data centers are more water- and energy-efficient than industry averages.
A UN report published in June 2026 found that data centers consumed so much electricity last year that if they were a country, they would rank 11th globally, between France and Saudi Arabia.
Source: www.dw.com