AI power demand threatens Big Tech green pledges

The escalating demand for artificial intelligence is complicating the environmental commitments of major tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Six years ago, Google aimed to power all operations with clean energy by 2030, a goal it now calls a "moonshot," while Microsoft describes its 2030 carbon removal target as "a marathon, not a sprint." Industry analysts, like Patrick Huang of Wood Mackenzie, note that companies are increasingly turning to natural gas to meet their burgeoning power needs, despite it being a planet-warming greenhouse gas. While these companies purchased record amounts of clean energy in 2024 and 2025, their total emissions have increased significantly over the first five years of their climate commitments. Google's emissions jumped nearly 50%, Amazon's rose 33%, Microsoft's more than 23%, and Meta's over 60%. Data centers consumed about 4.6% of total US electricity in 2024, a figure projected to nearly triple by 2028, with some analysts predicting a 20% rise in nationwide electricity use in the next decade due to data centers. Utilities across the country are planning new natural gas plants to supply data centers, and some tech companies are even planning on-site gas plants. For example, two new natural gas plants are planned in Wisconsin to power a Microsoft data center, with solar investments offsetting this elsewhere in the state. Similarly, three natural gas plants will supply a Meta data center in rural Louisiana, while Google plans to purchase electricity from a natural gas plant at the Archer Daniels Midland facility in Decatur, Illinois, where carbon emissions would be captured and stored. Experts from organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists and the World Resources Institute highlight the "mad rush" for power resources and the potential for delaying the transition to clean energy.