Data center carbon emissions reached 286 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2025, around 57% higher than previous International Energy Agency estimates once lifecycle emissions—including hardware manufacturing and construction—are taken into account.
The rapid expansion of AI-driven computing is increasing the environmental footprint of data centers. According to Allianz Trade, AI workloads currently account for 15% to 20% of data center electricity consumption and could approach 40% by 2030 if current trends continue.
Without substantial decarbonization of electricity grids, global data center emissions could more than double by the end of the decade, with annual climate damages projected to reach US$154 billion.
Growing demand is also placing increasing pressure on water resources. Data centers could require 1.3 to 1.8 trillion liters of water annually by 2030, roughly comparable to Switzerland's yearly water consumption. Today, the United States and China together account for about 70% of global data center emissions.
Researchers emphasize that accelerating clean-energy deployment is one of the most effective ways to reduce AI's climate impact. The same computational workload can generate up to 24 times more emissions depending on the carbon intensity of the electricity grid powering it.
Images are generated by AI and for demonstration purposes only.
Source: Hoffmann, P., & Utermöhl, K. (2026). Code, carbon, kilowatts: AI's hidden toll and the race to green the grid. Allianz Trade Research.
No comments:
Post a Comment