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 world's leading AI tech companies increased by an average of 150% between 2020 and 2023 due to power-hungry data centers.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, the U.N. agency responsible for digital technologies, the use of artificial intelligence in data centres by Amazon, Microsoft Alphabet, and Meta increased their indirect global emissions.
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 ranked at 138%.
ITU monitored the greenhouse gas emission of 200 leading digital firms 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.
Amazon has stated that it will invest in carbon-free projects such as nuclear and renewable energies to help power its operations. Microsoft's sustainability report stated that it doubled the rate of energy savings in its data centers last year.
Other companies didn't respond to comments immediately.
The report states that as investment in AI grows, carbon emissions by the most powerful AI systems will reach 102.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually.
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 although many digital companies have set emission targets, these ambitions have not yet been fully translated into reductions in emissions. (Reporting and editing by Aidan Lewis, Aurora Ellis and Olivia Le Poidevin)
(source: Reuters)
