Tech Industry’s Carbon Footprint Soars Amid AI Boom, But Green Progress Emerges
Geneva, June 5, 2025 — As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and expansive data infrastructures become central to innovation, the carbon emissions of the global technology sector continue to climb, creating an urgent environmental challenge. The newly released Greening Digital Companies 2025 report, jointly produced by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), presents a comprehensive analysis of the environmental footprint of 200 leading digital corporations, reflecting data through 2023. This in-depth study uncovers not only the alarming trajectory of emissions growth but also valuable insights into industry efforts to embrace sustainability.
The tech sector’s environmental impact is increasingly significant, driven by the vast energy demands of burgeoning AI applications and growing digital infrastructure. Data centers, the backbone of AI development, experienced a striking 12% per annum increase in electricity consumption between 2017 and 2023, a rate quadruple the pace of global electricity growth over the same period. This disproportionate rise underlines how fast-evolving digital innovations intensify power requirements, creating a critical tension between technological advancement and climate responsibility.
The report highlights that four major AI-centric companies alone have seen their operational carbon emissions surge by an average of 150% since 2020. These emissions, comprising Scope 1 (direct emissions from owned or controlled sources) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased energy), underscore the acute need for transparency and proactive management of energy consumption within AI operations. The aggregate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reported by 166 digital firms account for roughly 0.8% of all global energy-related emissions, a non-negligible contribution demanding immediate industry attention.
Electricity consumption figures further emphasize the sector’s role in global energy use. Among the 164 digital companies disclosing electricity data, an estimated 581 terawatt-hours (TWh) were consumed in 2023 alone, representing 2.1% of worldwide electricity demand. Significantly, just ten companies are responsible for half of this consumption, indicating a concentrated footprint within a handful of industry giants. This concentration presents both challenges and opportunities for targeted decarbonization strategies in the digital domain.
Despite these growing impacts, the report acknowledges meaningful strides toward sustainability within the tech landscape. Transparency and accountability around climate commitments have notably strengthened. Eight companies surpassed 90% in the report’s climate commitment index—a marked improvement compared to only three achieving this threshold the previous year. These advances signify a growing recognition among leading firms of the necessity to rigorously measure and report environmental performance.
For the first time, the research features data assessing companies’ progress in meeting their climate goals and advancing net-zero pledges. Nearly half of the surveyed organizations have declared ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions, with 41 targeting the year 2050 and 51 committing to more accelerated timelines. This momentum is buttressed by increased adoption of robust disclosure practices and independent verification, elements essential to credible climate action in highly complex digital operations.
Renewable energy integration emerges as a cornerstone of this progress. In 2023, 23 companies reported operating entirely on renewable energy sources, up from 16 in 2022. This significant increase illustrates the sector’s pivot towards cleaner electricity procurement, although it remains only a fraction of the overall industry. Enhanced renewable adoption is critical to curbing Scope 2 emissions, directly tied to electricity consumption by data centers and other digital assets.
Complementing this shift, the proliferation of dedicated climate reports—released standalone rather than embedded within broader sustainability disclosures—reflects an industry-wide trend toward heightened transparency and rigorous environmental accountability. With 49 companies issuing such reports, stakeholders now have improved access to detailed insights into emission profiles, reduction strategies, and investment in cleaner technologies.
An emerging focus on Scope 3 emissions adds further depth to companies’ climate efforts. These indirect emissions, spanning the entire value chain including supply operations and product lifecycle usage, have historically posed measurement challenges. Encouragingly, the number of firms setting targets related to Scope 3 emissions rose sharply from 73 to 110, suggesting an expanding awareness of the full environmental implications of digital products and services.
The report calls for bold, concerted action to arrest—and ultimately reverse—the tech sector’s rising emissions trajectory. Recommendations emphasize enhancing the rigor of data verification processes, elevating target ambition, and disclosing the environmental footprint of AI operations in full. Such transparency is pivotal for enabling stakeholders to evaluate progress and hold companies accountable.
Furthermore, the report advocates for multi-stakeholder collaboration, proposing alliances among technology firms, energy providers, policymakers, and environmental advocates to accelerate digital decarbonization. Given the sector’s outsized role in shaping future digital economies, fostering collaborative ecosystems will be indispensable to achieving scalable, systemic climate solutions.
Accelerating renewable energy adoption remains a central tenet of sustainable tech growth. The report stresses continued investment in clean power procurement and innovative energy efficiency technologies within data centers and network infrastructures. These efforts are critical in offsetting the inherently high energy intensity of AI systems and expanding digital services.
ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, alongside regulators and domain experts, is actively advancing methodologies to track and improve GHG emissions data quality within the digital sector. Their work supports national and international mechanisms for measurement, reporting, and verification aligned with global climate goals, underpinning data-driven policy and corporate action.
As the international community approaches the COP30 climate summit, ITU’s Green Digital Action initiative seeks to ensure that digital technologies’ environmental effects are comprehensively integrated into updated climate pledges and adaptation frameworks. This includes embedding digital sustainability considerations into broader global climate dialogues to align technology development with planetary boundaries.
The Greening Digital Companies 2025 report serves as a vital tool to illuminate the complex and evolving relationship between the tech sector’s rapid growth and environmental sustainability. While emissions continue their upward climb, the industry demonstrates improved disclosure and emerging pathways to mitigate its environmental impact. Maintaining and accelerating this momentum will be essential if digital innovation is to become a driver of positive climate action rather than a contributor to global emissions.
Subject of Research: Not applicable
Article Title: Tech Industry’s Carbon Footprint Soars Amid AI Boom, But Green Progress Emerges
News Publication Date: 5 June 2025
Web References:
- https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Environment/Pages/Publications/GDC-25.aspx
- https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Environment/Pages/Events/2025/GDC-report-2025-launch.aspx
- https://www.itu.int/initiatives/green-digital-action/
Image Credits: International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Keywords: Technology, Artificial intelligence, Greenhouse gases, Sustainability, Environmental issues, Environmental impact assessments, Climate change, Corporations
