UN agency: Tech giants' indirect emission has increased 150% in the last three years, as AI grows.

A United Nations report on Thursday said that indirect carbon emissions from four of the largest AI-focused tech firms, Amazon, Microsoft Alphabet, and Meta, increased by an average of 150% between 2020-2023 as they used more power to run energy-demanding servers.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, the U.N. agency responsible for digital technologies, artificial intelligence increases global indirect emissions due to the huge amounts of energy needed to power data centers.

Indirect emissions are those produced by the electricity, steam and heating/cooling that a company consumes.

According to the report, Amazon's carbon emissions from operations grew by 182% between 2023 and three years earlier. Microsoft was next at 155%. Meta came in at 145%. Alphabet was at 138%.

ITU monitored the greenhouse gas emission of 200 digital leaders between 2020 and 23.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites, has published a sustainability report in which it states its efforts to reduce energy, emissions and water consumption to power its data centers.

Other companies didn't respond to comments immediately.

The report states that as investment in AI grows, the carbon emissions of the most powerful AI systems will reach 102.6 million tons (tCO2) of carbon dioxide per year.

Data centres, which are necessary for AI development, could put pressure on the existing energy infrastructure.

The report concluded that "the rapid growth of artificial intelligent is driving a steep rise in global electric demand. Electricity consumption by data centres increased four times faster than overall electricity consumption."

The report also revealed that while a growing number digital companies have set emission targets, these ambitions have not yet translated into real reductions in emissions. (Reporting and editing by Aidan Lewis; Olivia Le Poidevin)

(source: Reuters)