Amazon may have emitted as much CO2 as Mozambique in 2022 — but you wouldn’t know it
The widespread use of “unbundled renewable energy credits” by tech companies may obscure actual carbon emissions.
Amazon recently boasted that it now runs on 100% renewable energy, and it reached this goal seven years ahead of schedule. Meta claims it has reached “net zero emissions” and is “supported” by 100% renewable energy. Microsoft aims to be “carbon negative” and “water positive” by 2030.
But if you think that means windmills and solar panels are popping up outside of the power-hungry data centers powering the AI computing boom, you’re mistaken.
Amazon, Meta and Microsoft rely upon “unbundled renewable energy credits” to obscure the companies’ true carbon footprints, according to a detailed analysis from Bloomberg.
Experts say these credits don’t directly represent reduced emissions in the atmosphere, and according to the Bloomberg report, if the credits were excluded from their accounting, “Amazon could be forced to admit that its 2022 emissions are 8.5 million metric tons of CO2 higher than reported—that’s three times what the company disclosed and matches Mozambique’s annual impact.”
Excluding Microsoft’s reported 288,000 tons of carbon emissions for 2023 could actually be 3.3 million tons higher, according to Bloomberg’s analysis.
