A surge in the construction of data centers worldwide is projected to result in approximately 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions by the end of the decade, according to a Morgan Stanley report.
This expansion, largely driven by hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, is fueled by the increasing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies. Amazon, Microsoft and Google now account for 60 percent of all hyperscale data center capacity.
Synergy Research Group earlier said the number of large data centers operated by hyperscale providers increased to 992 at the end of 2023, and passed the 1000-mark in early 2024. Synergy’s data shows that the United States accounts for 51 percent of worldwide capacity, measured by MW of critical IT load, with Europe and China each accounting for about a third of the balance.
The Morgan Stanley report highlights that the data center industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will constitute around 40 percent of the total annual emissions of the United States. Despite the growing energy consumption, these tech giants remain committed to their pledges to significantly reduce emissions from their data centers by 2030.
The expanding footprint of these massive data centers is expected to spur substantial investments in clean energy development, energy-efficient technologies, and sustainable building materials. Furthermore, advancements in carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technologies, along with carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes, are likely to gain momentum as tech companies strive to meet their climate goals.