微软、亚马逊和谷歌在截至2026年3月的财年中，因建设支持人工智能业务的数据中心，集体碳排放量增加了近五分之一，达到1.19亿吨二氧化碳当量 [1]。这一排放量约为法国的三分之一 [1]。尽管面临排放激增引发的环保宣传真实性争议，这三家公司仍承诺分别于2030年或2040年实现净零排放目标 [1]。
具体来看，微软报告其碳排放同比增长25%至2000万吨，主要受数据中心基础设施扩建驱动 [1]。谷歌表示其排放量增长18%，归因于支持业务快速扩张的供应链活动增加 [1]。亚马逊整体排放增长16%，其中包含数据中心建设的供应链排放增长了20% [1]。
全球科技巨头今年预计将支出7650亿美元，主要用于建设AI数据中心 [1]。Uptime Institute估计，去年宣布的大型数据中心项目将消耗全球1.3%的电力使用量 [1]。
Microsoft, Amazon, and Google collectively increased their annual carbon emissions by nearly one-fifth during the fiscal year ending March 2026 due to data center construction supporting artificial intelligence operations [1]. This surge brought total collective emissions for the three companies to approximately 1.19 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (mTCO₂e), a figure representing roughly one-third of France's annual carbon output in the same period [1]. The growth was primarily driven by AI-driven cloud services and data center expansion, sparking debate over the authenticity of tech giants' environmental claims despite their pledges to reach net-zero targets by 2030 or 2040 respectively [1].
Specific emission increases were reported across all three firms. Microsoft's emissions rose by 25% year-on-year to 20 million tonnes, a jump attributed largely to the expansion of its data center infrastructure [1]. Google saw an 18% increase in annual carbon output, which it linked to increased supply chain activities supporting rapid business growth [1]. Amazon reported overall emission growth of 16%, with specific increases of 20% recorded for its supply chain emissions that included data center construction projects [1].
The surge in infrastructure spending is part of a broader trend where global tech giants are expected to spend $765 billion this year, primarily on building AI data centers [1]. According to estimates from the Uptime Institute, large-scale data center projects announced last year will consume 1.3% of global electricity usage [1].