Amazon reveals how much CO2 it emits. The drive towards carbon neutrality is going poorly.

As Bloomberg reports, Amazon and its high-tech rivals are investing heavily in data centers to power artificial intelligence applications that require large amounts of concrete and steel – two materials that take a lot of energy to produce.

Tech giants are investing in energy-intensive data centers.

Environmental groups have raised alarm bells as the AI-powered data center boom has fueled rising electricity demand and, in some areas, breathing new life into energy from natural gas and coal.

These energy sources have lost popularity in recent years among technology companies, which have committed to finding cleaner sources and zero carbon emissions.

Amazon and fellow data center giants Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft have also signed deals to source carbon-free nuclear power in the coming years .

"It is important to scale carbon-free energy sources"

Amazon's emissions from purchased electricity rose 1% last year, the first increase since the company began reporting this figure in 2019. This is "partly due to higher electricity consumption necessary to operate advanced technologies," but also due to fuel used by delivery drivers.

“This underscores why it is important to scale carbon-free energy sources to continue delivering the advanced technologies our customers need,” Amazon said in the report.

In June of this year, Meta signed a 20-year contract to supply electricity from Constellation Energy's Clinton nuclear power plant in Illinois. The supplier will invest in increasing its production capacity, which may involve the construction of a new reactor.

Google in July agreed to secure 3 GW of hydropower in the US as part of the world's largest corporate pact for clean hydropower. The capacity is intended to support large tech companies' efforts to expand energy-intensive data centers.