Four of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence (AI) companies saw the indirect carbon emissions of their work grow by over 150 percent in the last three years, according to a report from a United Nations agency for digital technolgoies.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) tracked the emissions, energy use, and climate commitments of 200 leading digital companies between 2020 and 2023 using public databases.
The report found that Amazon, Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Meta have seen a rise in emissions that is either produced or purchased by the companies because of "expanding data infrastructure and energy use".
Indirect emissions are those that come from purchased electricity, heat, steam, or electricity use, like in data centres, telecommunication networks, or office buildings.
'Urgent need' to manage AI’s environmental impact
Amazon saw the highest emissions increase at over 182 per cent in 2023 compared to 2020, followed by Microsoft at 155 per cent, Meta at 145 per cent, and Alphabet at 138 per cent, according to the report.
The consumption of data centres, which power the AI models that these companies are working on, also rose 12 percent year over year from 2017 to 2023, which is four times faster than global energy growth.
The report "underscores the urgent need to manage AI’s environmental impact," the ITU said in a statement.
Euronews Next reached out to the relevant technology companies regarding this report but did not receive an immediate reply.
The report also found that half the assessed companies in their report had committed to reaching net-zero by at least 2050 if not earlier.
Despite these actions, the report found that overall emissions still rose meaning that net-zero targets "have not yet translated into real-world reductions".
