Report: Emissions and energy requirements of digital companies continue to rise

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The digital industry is emitting more and more CO₂ and requires more and more energy. The field of artificial intelligence and growing data infrastructure in particular are driving this development. This is shown by the "Greening Digital Companies" report published at the beginning of June by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the non-profit World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA).

For the fourth time, the greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and climate commitments of 200 leading companies in the information and communication technology sector were examined for the annual report. These include Amazon, Bytedance, Deutsche Telekom, eBay, Netflix, Paypal and Uber. The data in the current report dates back to 2023 and was reported by the companies themselves, for example as part of climate reports.

Ten companies with massive electricity consumption

According to the report, the electricity consumption of data centers increased by 12 percent annually between 2017 and 2023. This means it is rising four times faster than global electricity demand. One reason for this is the growing spread of AI applications: At four leading companies with a strong focus on AI (Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google) and Meta), operational emissions have risen by an average of 150 percent since 2020.

The 166 companies in the report that provided corresponding data were responsible for 0.8 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. This corresponds to the combined emissions of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile in one year.

164 of the companies surveyed reported on their electricity consumption. Their combined demand of 581 TWh accounted for 2.1 percent of global electricity consumption in 2023. The ten most energy-hungry of these companies alone consumed more than half: China Mobile, Amazon, Samsung Electronics, China Telecom, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, TSMC, China Unicom, SK Hynix and Meta.

Indirect emissions as a blind spot

According to the report, more and more companies are recognizing that they need to reduce their energy requirements or increasingly cover them with renewable energies. They are increasingly taking appropriate measures: Almost half of the companies surveyed, for example, are pursuing the goal of reducing their net emissions to zero; however, 41 do not want to achieve this goal until 2050, while 51 are aiming for an earlier date.

Only a few companies already cover their electricity requirements entirely from renewable energies; in 2022, 16 of the 200 companies surveyed did so, and in 2023, 23. 49 of the companies published their own climate reports. More and more are also setting targets for so-called Scope 3 emissions, as the report calls indirect emissions from supply chains and the useful life of products.

While only 73 companies took these emissions into account in 2022, this figure had risen to 110 by 2023. However, these indirect emissions are still a blind spot for many – presumably a very large one, as Scope 3 emissions accounted for the largest share, namely 84 percent, of the total emissions of the companies that provided data.

Introducing climate strategies

Among other things, the ITU report recommends that companies switch to renewable energy more quickly and disclose the full environmental impact of their AI-related activities. "Despite all progress, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. This confirms the urgent need for digital companies to commit to science-based, transparent and legally binding climate strategies," said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.

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