Big Tech’s AI race comes at a steep environmental cost | Explained
Major technology companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have seen significant increases in their carbon emissions between 2024 and 2025. This rise is largely attributed to the expansion of data centers and infrastructure required to support the rapid growth of artificial intelligence.
Why it matters
The environmental impact of AI development poses a significant challenge to corporate sustainability goals and global climate change efforts.
The story so far: Carbon emissions from Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have jumped drastically between 2024 and 2025 as Big Tech firms jostle to stay ahead in the AI race. These companies are expanding their data centre capacities and the world is paying a steep environmental cost.
Per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a company’s emissions are divided under three categories — Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 — with the first one capturing the company’s direct emissions, the second measuring its industrial use of energy, and the third covering a wide range of activities including employees’ commutes and how the customers use the company’s products and services.
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