Carbon emissions of Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet increased 2,5 times in three years as they expanded AI features, according to the United Nations.
The information was released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, in a report released on June 5. The emissions were calculated in scopes 6 and 1, including direct and indirect emissions from electricity sources, heating and cooling systems, from 2-2020.
Emissions increased 2,5 times (up 150%) due to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and energy-hungry data centers. Of these, Amazon's carbon emissions from its operations increased the most (182%), followed by Microsoft (155%), Meta (145%) and Alphabet (138%).
Amazon logo at the annual Retail Leadership Summit in Mumbai, India, February 27. Photo: Reuters
ITU tracked the greenhouse gas emissions of the world's top 200 technology companies between 2020 and 2023.
In fact, in terms of scope 2 emissions from energy use alone, that is, emissions from electricity supply, Microsoft has increased its carbon emissions from 4,3 million tons in 2020 to nearly 10 million tons in 2024, according to the Financial Times.
To ensure it stays on track to achieve negative emissions by 2030, the tech giant has ramped up its purchase of carbon credits. A carbon credit is a tradable permit or certificate that gives the holder the right to emit one ton of CO2 or another greenhouse gas.
For example, a coal-fired power company in Illinois could buy carbon credits from a solar company in Texas to offset its CO2 emissions. After using the offset credits, Microsoft’s CO2 emissions in 2020 would be 456.000 tons, and in 2024, they would be just 259.000 tons.
Responding to the ITU report, Meta, the company that owns Facebook and WhatsApp, said it is working to reduce emissions, energy and water use in its data centres. It has also recently signed a contract to purchase nuclear power, a green, sustainable source of baseload electricity.
Amazon is also looking to buy nuclear power to move toward zero-emissions energy. It is also investing in renewable energy. Microsoft doubled its energy efficiency last year and is switching to liquid cooling at the chip level, rather than traditional cooling systems, to reduce energy consumption in its data centers.
The ITU authors cited another report that estimated carbon emissions from the 20 largest AI systems at 102,6 million tonnes of CO2 per year. They also noted that a growing number of digital companies have set emissions targets, but those ambitions have yet to translate into action.
Source: https://vnexpress.net/bon-ong-lon-cong-nghe-thai-carbon-tang-gap-2-5-lan-vi-ai-4895321.html