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.
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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.
