Google and Amazon reported higher carbon emissions for 2025 as both companies expanded the data centers, chips and supporting infrastructure required for artificial intelligence. Google’s supply chain emissions increased 25% from the previous year, while Amazon’s total carbon footprint rose 16% to 80.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The increases have complicated their existing climate commitments. Google aims to reach net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030, while Amazon has set a 2040 target.
Neither company attributed its entire increase directly to AI. However, both acknowledged that rising demand for computing capacity has increased electricity use, equipment purchases and data center construction.
Supply Chains Drive Much of the Increase
Google said in its 2026 Environmental Report that its operational emissions fell 2% despite a 37% increase in electricity demand. It also matched its annual electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases for the ninth consecutive year.
Its supply chain emissions rose by 25%, reflecting the construction of AI infrastructure and reliance on suppliers operating on fossil fuel-heavy electricity grids in the Asia-Pacific region. Google contracted 12 gigawatts of clean energy during 2025, its largest annual total.
Amazon’s 2025 Sustainability Report showed that emissions increased from 69.55 million metric tons in 2024 to 80.85 million in 2025. Supply chain emissions accounted for about 76% of the total, while emissions linked to purchased electricity increased by 34%.
The company said it added more data center capacity in 2025 than any other business, including over 1.2 gigawatts during the fourth quarter. Amazon continued to match all electricity used across its operations with renewable energy purchases, while its carbon intensity remained 38% below its 2019 level.
Data Center Construction Creates Additional Emissions
Much of the companies’ indirect pollution comes from Scope 3 emissions, which cover purchased equipment, construction materials, suppliers and the use of sold products. For technology companies, this category includes servers, GPUs, memory chips, steel, cement and other materials used to build and equip data centers.
Semiconductor manufacturing also requires large amounts of electricity and uses chemicals with strong warming effects. Many advanced chip factories operate in regions where power grids still depend heavily on fossil fuels.
Google reported that efficiency improvements and clean energy procurement avoided more than 58 million metric tons of emissions in 2025. Amazon added 80 renewable and carbon-free energy projects, bringing its total planned capacity to 42 gigawatts across 712 projects.
The companies will need further clean energy purchases, lower-carbon construction materials and carbon removal projects to offset emissions associated with continued AI infrastructure expansion.
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
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