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Climate·P Space·Model-prefilled problem·Published 2026-07-20

Datacentres drive up big tech’s carbon emissions to a third of those of France

Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction. In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or about a third of those of France. The previous year, they emitted roughly 101m mTCO₂e, roughly equivalent to the 2024 emissions of Czechia. The US companies’ climate ambitions have been hit in recent years by a boom in demand for…

TRV-2026-0296JournalismPermanent record — cite & verify
Datacentres drive up big tech’s carbon emissions to a third of those of France

Publisher image: The Guardian.

The quick read

By July 2026, Microsoft, Amazon and Google reported combined emissions of 119m mTCO2e for the year ending March 2026, up from about 101m the previous year, with company reports attributing the rise to datacentre construction and supply chain expansion to support cloud services for training and operating AI products.

The rise matters because it reverses years of flat or falling emissions and complicates net zero pledges for 2030 and 2040, while also raising questions about carbon credit availability and about other firms outsourcing their digital footprint to cloud providers; uncertainty remains about future power demand and whether efficiency gains claimed from AI will offset infrastructure emissions.

Main points
  • In financial year ending March 2026, Microsoft, Amazon and Google emitted 119m mTCO2e, up from roughly 101m mTCO2e the prior year.
  • Microsoft reported 25% rise to 20m mTCO2e, Google 18% rise, Amazon 16% overall and 20% in supply chain emissions.
  • Tech companies are on track to spend $765bn this year mostly on building AI datacentres, with JLL expecting about 1,200 datacentres built globally by 2030.
Problem

Building and expanding AI datacentres increased collective carbon emissions of Microsoft, Amazon and Google by nearly a fifth to 119m mTCO2e in FY ending March 2026.

The rundown

Sustainability reports released in weeks before 11 July 2026 show Microsoft at 20m mTCO2e after flatlining at 16m in 2023 and 2024, Google citing supply chain growth, and Amazon framing its rise as making progress toward net zero in 2040.

The boom is linked to $765bn in projected spending this year on AI datacentres from Norway to North Tyneside, with Uptime Institute estimating new projects announced last year would consume 1.3% of world electricity, mostly in the US, and JLL forecasting 1,200 builds by 2030.

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