Google and Amazon emissions rise as AI demand grows

Google and Amazon released their sustainability reports this week, revealing significant increases in their carbon emissions as the pursuit of artificial intelligence complicates their net-zero targets. Net-zero is defined as the target to balance greenhouse gas emissions produced and removed. In the reports, both companies discussed carbon intensity—the pollution generated per dollar of revenue—which is a metric China has used over the last several years when negotiating climate treaties.

According to the reports, the emissions increases since last year are:

• Google’s total carbon emissions are up 25% since last year.
• Amazon’s total carbon emissions are up 16%.

A close reading of the reports suggests that both companies will potentially have to make adjustments to their businesses to achieve these net-zero targets.

Most of the growing carbon footprint for both Amazon and Google is driven by Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain. For tech companies, these emissions include capital goods like data centers, warehouses, and GPU purchases. For Google, Scope 3 emissions increased by 2.1 million metric tons last year. This increase means Google’s Scope 3 emissions are now double what they were in 2019, the baseline year the company uses for assessing its performance. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Scope 3 emissions rose as it expanded its infrastructure. In its report, Amazon stated: “To meet strong customer demand, in 2025 we added more data center capacity globally than any other company, including more than 1.2 gigawatt (GW) in Q4 alone.”

To meet the heavy power demands of AI, tech companies have begun to invest in natural gas power plants. Additionally, the manufacturing of GPUs and memory chips in Asia continues to inflate the carbon footprints of both companies. Semiconductor manufacturing in the region relies on electrical grids that remain dominated by fossil fuels, and the chemicals used in these factories are potent greenhouse gases, making the global binge on chips a major contributor to the rising emissions of both Amazon and Google.

Why it matters

The pursuit of AI is creating a tangible environmental cost for Google and Amazon, forcing a difficult trade-off between rapid infrastructure expansion and long-term sustainability commitments.