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We see a great deal of dishonesty today. And while you might be tempted to believe the tech industry is above it, you’d be wrong. Big Tech has been accused of using creative accounting to misrepresent its environmental impact for some time.
Last year investigative journalists with the Guardian found Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft used some creative accounting to underreport data center related emissions by 662 percent. Presumably, these are the data centers that allow us to stream videos, share media, view eReceipts, and surf the web. The companies did this by using figures related to the renewable energy certificates they purchased rather than from the facilities that actually powered their data centers.
This creative accounting impacts claims made by the industry to drum up business, such as those behind the drive to go paperless and to rely more on AI. According to the International Energy Agency and Goldman Sachs, it will be responsible for 3 percent of global emissions by 2030. And, they haven’t yet taken into account the increase server manufacturers will see as AI processors production ramps up. Researchers with TechInsights say AI accelerators will emit 16-times more CO2 by 2030.
Big Tech is not alone. In fact, research published by Nature Climate Change saw a disturbing trend, as nearly 40 percent of the 1,041 firms they surveyed last year failed to meet or dropped entirely emissions reduction promises made in 2020. All this as scientists at the recent Global Tipping Points conference report we must halve emissions by 2030 to avoid climate related disasters that threaten billions.
Jamie Beaulieu
Farmington
