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Big tech’s data centers are a threat to climate progress

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As part of the AI boom, tech corporations are racing to build massive, energy-hungry data centers (aka warehouses full of computer servers) that threaten to take us backward on climate progress. States are keeping coal plants open, building new gas plants, and exploring nuclear energy solely to supply big tech’s energy demands. A single data center can use as much electricity as 900,000 households, and consume the same amount of water as a city of 50,000 people.

So far, Amazon and other tech corporations have avoided paying the full cost of that energy by negotiating tax breaks and subsidies with local governments and utility companies – all while passing the costs on to people in the form of higher utility bills, dirtier air, and a stalled transition to renewable energy.

Recently, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) asked for input on addressing data centers’ exploding energy demands. We represent 20 civil society groups and thousands of activists who demanded that the White House:


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Supporters

Athena Coalition
Public Citizen
350.org
MediaJustice
Piedmont Environmental Council
Institute for Local Self Reliance
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Citizens Action Coalition
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice
Good Jobs First
Free Press
Demand Progress Education Fund
Friends of the Earth
Kairos Action
People's Action Institute
Nature Forward

What Makes Data Centers so Dirty?

  • By 2030, data centers are expected to use as much power as 26 million average homes – that’s 8% of all the electricity in the US.
  • A data center can use as much water as a city of 50,000 people – but big tech keeps building them in drought-prone areas like Arizona and southern Texas.
  • Amazon’s own employees have called the company out for deceiving the public and distorting the truth about the true extent of its data center emissions. Amazon and other tech corporations have even been caught walking back their climate commitments, expecting no one to take notice.
  • Because of data centers, states are keeping coal plants open, building new gas-fired power plants, and reopening nuclear plants solely for data center use.
  • Tech corporations collect billions in subsidies for data centers that don’t actually generate many jobs. In fact, studies show that each data center job can cost local governments nearly $2 million in subsidies.
  • Tech corporations push these projects through with as little transparency as possible, so the public doesn’t know their potential impact on the grid, household utility bills, or air quality. Communities have almost no chance to weigh in on these projects before they’re greenlit.
  • Data centers’ surge in energy use is directly linked to the AI boom – AI searches use at least 4-5 times the energy of a traditional search.

Why Is Big Tech Racing to Build Data Centers?

  • Corporations like Amazon and Google are racing against each other to secure their dominance of the cloud computing and artificial intelligence markets. They’re making vague promises about progress and security but are really seeking to reinforce their own power and wealth.
  • Lots of this computing power would be used for products that regular people don’t want – like expanded data collection, manipulation of their viewing and shopping habits, targeted advertising, facial recognition, and customer service chatbots.
  • Human rights advocates have raised concerns that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft’s contracts with militaries and police have facilitated mass surveillance and human rights abuses.