Amazon's carbon volume reaches 68.25 million tons of CO₂ equivalent, ending 3 consecutive years of reduction due to AI data center construction.
Amazon has ended three consecutive years of carbon emission reduction with a 6% increase in 2024, reaching a total of 68.25 million tons of CO₂ equivalent according to the annual sustainability report published on Wednesday. The main reason was identified as the explosion of data center construction to serve the increasingly high demand for artificial intelligence technologies, posing a serious challenge to the tech giant's climate commitment.
The construction of these facilities requires large amounts of steel and concrete, two materials with high emission intensity during production. At the same time, the report also noted for the first time that electricity consumption emissions increased by 1% since 2019, reflecting the enormous energy demands of large-scale AI models requiring extreme computing resources.
Amazon acknowledges in the report that "reducing peak electricity consumption and expanding access to renewable, carbon-free energy is crucial to continue supporting the advanced technologies that customers depend on". However, despite significant investment in global renewable energy including wind and solar, the company is struggling to keep up with the breakneck speed of AI development.
These results raise serious questions about the ability to achieve the net-zero emissions commitment by 2040 under the Climate Pledge previously announced by Amazon. After 5 years of implementation, the company's total emissions have increased by one-third, showing the growing gap between climate ambitions and business operational realities.
The AI Race and Industry-wide Environmental Pressure
Amazon is not an isolated case in the AI race causing severe environmental impacts. Tech giants like Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are also making large bets on AI as the next breakthrough, but environmental impacts are being scrutinized more closely by expert communities, investors, and the public.
Current AI data center electricity demand is larger than ever. In many US regions, surging demand has forced the reactivation of gas and coal power plants, energy sources that companies previously avoided in favor of greener solutions.
Although AI is reshaping the energy sector, it is not always in a positive direction. In places where clean energy infrastructure cannot keep up with technology-driven growth, the sustainable process risks being reversed.
Amazon and other companies are signing carbon-free nuclear power purchase agreements for future operations. However, these plants will take several more years to become operational, while the gap between energy demand and clean supply continues to widen.
