Collective carbon emissions from Microsoft, Amazon, and Google surged by nearly a fifth over the past year, driven significantly by the rapid construction of datacentres, as reported by The Guardian.
During the financial year ending March 2026, these three technology giants discharged 119 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, representing roughly a third of the total annual emissions of France.
This figure marks a stark increase from the previous year, when the companies generated approximately 101 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a volume comparable to the 2024 emissions of Czechia.
The climate goals of these American corporations have faced severe headwinds recently due to a surge in demand for internet-based cloud services, which are critical for storing data and operating servers to train artificial intelligence products.
Criticism of Green Marketing
"Claims by Microsoft, Amazon and Google about their clouds being ecologically friendly and sustainable are a marketing strategy," said Cecilia Rikap, an economics professor at University College London.
"Governments should remember these expanding carbon footprints when the very same companies offer addressing the ecological crisis with AI solutions," she added.
Rikap noted that as migration to their clouds expands, other companies outsource their own digital and AI carbon footprint to cloud giants, effectively obscuring their environmental impact.
The rising emissions figures were detailed in the annual sustainability reports published by the corporations over recent weeks.
In its corporate document released on Thursday, Microsoft reported that its carbon emissions climbed by 25 percent over the year to 20 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, primarily due to the expansion of datacentre infrastructure.
Google revealed an 18 percent rise in its emissions over the past year, attributing the growth to supply chain operations supporting rapid business expansion, though the search firm noted its AI models helped mitigate 41 million tonnes of carbon emissions elsewhere last year.
Amazon documented a 16 percent increase in total emissions alongside a 20 percent rise in supply chain emissions, which includes the construction of datacentres, though the firm maintained it is making progress toward its 2040 net zero objective.
The primary source of these environmental impacts stems from a massive international initiative to establish infrastructural support for artificial intelligence applications.
The leading global technology firms are projected to spend 765 billion dollars this year, with the majority of expenditures directed toward building AI datacentres across international locations spanning from Norway to North Tyneside.
This upward trajectory represents a major reversal in a multi-year campaign by tech firms to limit environmental impacts, noting that Microsoft's emissions previously flatlined at 16 million metric tonnes during 2023 and 2024.
Despite the recent increases, all three enterprises maintain their long-term environmental targets, with Google and Microsoft aiming for net zero emissions by 2030, and Amazon targeting 2040.
AI Investment and Carbon Credit Concerns
"The increases in total carbon emissions are strongly correlated with [the companies’] AI investment," said Shaolei Ren, an electrical engineering professor at the University of California, Riverside.
Ren further pointed out that Microsoft's documentation indicated a potential deficit of available carbon credits on the global market to offset corporate emissions effectively.
"While companies are actively investing in or purchasing carbon credits, the figure suggests a possible lack of credit supply in the carbon market to meet the technology companies’ needs," Ren added.
"Everyone is talking about the lack of physical goods and infrastructure like power, but there may also be a lack of virtual goods – carbon credits."
Development proposals for datacentres are growing larger and more frequent as market interest in generative tools and underlying foundational models continues to expand.
Property consultancy firm JLL projects that approximately 1,200 datacentres will be constructed worldwide between the present period and 2030, with demand heavily driven by artificial intelligence.
The rapid expansion of infrastructure is linked to heavy projections for global electricity consumption.
The Uptime Institute estimates that major datacentre developments announced last year will account for 1.3 percent of global electricity consumption, effectively doubling current sector demand, with the majority originating from American projects.
