AI boom is testing tech firms’ climate pledges

GENEVA - Technology companies are stepping up their climate commitments but not fast enough to counter rapidly inflating energy needs linked to the artificial intelligence boom, a report said on Sept 2.Despite progress in climate reporting and renewable electricity use, tech firms are falling short in cutting emissions at the pace required to achieve global climate targets, the Greening Digital Companies 2026 report found.Published by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), sustainable development NGO, the report monitors the emissions and climate commitments of 200 major tech companies worldwide.It tracks greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, climate targets, renewable energy use and climate transition planning.2026’s edition, based on 2024 data, found that artificial intelligence “is both a driver of efficiency and a growing challenge”, the ITU said in a statement.Leading AI and cloud providers saw their individual emissions rise from 2020 to 2024, driven by surging energy needs and infrastructure expansion, it said.“While digital technologies offer immense potential for climate action, their rising energy demands and emissions cannot be overlooked,” said ITU chief Doreen Bogdan-Martin.“Environmental sustainability must be built into how we design, power and scale the technologies shaping our shared digital future,” she said.‘Clean’ AI?Emissions from four major AI and cloud computing providers had skyrocketed by up to 239 per cent between 2020 and 2024, the report found.Over the same period, 14 major telecoms firms reduced their emissions by 11 per cent.“While AI supports climate action through energy optimisation, renewable forecasting and efficiency gains, it comes with its own environmental costs,” the ITU said.In 2024, the 200 companies assessed for the study reported 301 million tonnes of operational emissions in carbon dioxide equivalent, equal to 0.8 pe cent of global energy-related emissions.But the companies consumed close to 500 Terawatt-hours (TWh), or around 1.7 per cent of global electricity consumption, the report said, adding that power demand was only expected to grow “as AI, cloud computing and digital infrastructure continue to expand”.With Amazon not reporting electricity data for 2024, China Mobile reported the biggest electricity consumption at 63 TWh, nearly double that of second-placed Alphabet and Samsung, which each consumed 32 TWh, followed by Microsoft at 30 TWh.The 10 biggest consumers combined used 269 TWh of electricity – more than Australia, the report found.Climate targetsAlthough tech firms figure among the world’s biggest purchasers of renewable electricity, only 25 of the 200 companies in the report said they sourced 100 per cent renewable electricity.It found that 151 of them had near-term emission reduction targets, “reflecting both voluntary leadership and the influence of investor expectations”, as well as emerging regulations.But only 85 companies were “assessed as on-track based on progress to date”, while just 81 had comprehensive plans to meet climate goals, the report found.“Digital companies need to engage suppliers and address emissions across the products and services they rely on,” said WBA executive director Gerbrand Haverkamp.The report gave each company a climate assessment score, based on targets, data and performance.The top-ranked firms were Swisscom – the only one with a perfect score – Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Capgemini and Telefonica.Eighteen companies had no score at all, including Elon Musk’s X and SpaceX.The bottom 30 companies – of those who actually had a score – included Huawei, Spotify, Nintendo, Weibo, Xiaomi, Zoom and Toshiba TEC. AFP