AI boom drives sharp rise in Google and Amazon emissions

Google's total emissions rose 25% and Amazon's 16% as both companies pushed deeper into AI, underscoring how a product sold as frictionless and virtual still depends on very physical systems. The latest company disclosures show the cost in electricity, cooling water and infrastructure is growing even as both firms keep promising net-zero futures.

Google's 2025 Environmental Report, which covers fiscal 2024 and includes some first-half 2025 updates, said the company reduced data-center energy emissions by 12% in 2024 even as electricity demand increased. It replenished 4.5 billion gallons of water and raised freshwater replenishment from 18% in 2023 to 64%, while also signing agreements in 2025 to buy more than 12 gigawatts of net-new clean energy, the largest annual total in its history. Even so, scope 3 emissions remained a major share of Google's footprint, with supply-chain electricity a significant driver.

Amazon's 2025 Sustainability Report covers January 1 through December 31, 2025, and says AI is creating new demands for energy, water and infrastructure at the same time it is accelerating discovery and optimizing systems. Amazon ties The Climate Pledge to net-zero carbon emissions across global operations by 2040, a target it first discussed in 2015 and formalized in 2019, and says the commitment reaches energy procurement, data center design, transportation, real estate, packaging, water systems, grocery and supply chain engagement.

That breadth matters because it shows the emissions problem is not limited to server racks. As AI takes a larger share of cloud and consumer services, carbon intensity, emissions per dollar of revenue, may matter as much as gross totals, since more demand can require more hardware, more power and more water even when efficiency improves. Google's clean-energy buying and Amazon's broader climate pledge still point in the right direction, but the reports make clear that the speed of AI growth is already testing whether those gains can keep pace.