Big Tech emissions tracker
Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon each promised to cut their climate pollution. Each now emits more than in the year it measures itself against. Each company's own report links the growth to AI and the data centers behind it. These are their numbers, year by year, from their own reports.
- Google+82%18.85 million tons in 2025, against 2019
- Microsoft+62%21.12 million tons in FY2025, against FY2020
- Meta+41%8.20 million tons in 2024, against 2021
- Amazon+58%80.85 million tons in 2025, against 2019
Google (Alphabet)
GHG Protocol-aligned: Scope 1 + Scope 2 (market-based) + Scope 3. Calendar year. Baseline: 2019.
“our AI infrastructure buildout is currently accelerating faster than the grid is decarbonizing”Google, Environmental Report 2026, p. 4
| Year | Emissions (million t CO2e) | Change vs 2019 | Electricity (TWh) | Water withdrawn (million gallons) | Water consumed (million gallons) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10.35 | Baseline | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2020 | 9.37 | -10% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2021 | 11.16 | +8% | 17.4 | 6,297 | 4,562 |
| 2022 | 12.60 | +22% | 20.6 | 7,600 | 5,565 |
| 2023 | 14.92 | +44% | 24.0 | 8,653 | 6,352 |
| 2024 | 15.94 | +54% | 30.6 | 11,011 | 8,135 |
| 2025 | 18.85 | +82% | 42.4 | 14,689 | 10,869 |
- Google's own target metric is "ambition-based" emissions, which leave out or net down some supply-chain emissions. On that measure it emitted 14.47 million tons in 2025, against 8.00 million in 2019 (p. 90).
- Data centers used 42.4 TWh of the 43.6 TWh of electricity Google consumed in 2025 (p. 93). They withdrew 13,562 million gallons of the 14,689 million gallons of water (p. 96).
- The report gives no data-center electricity or water figures for 2019 and 2020.
Emissions: Google, Environmental Report 2026, p. 90. Baseline year: Google, Environmental Report 2026, p. 74. Electricity, data centers: Google, Environmental Report 2026, p. 93. Water, data centers and offices: Google, Environmental Report 2026, p. 96.
Every story on Google · Google's emissions rose 18% last year as AI pushed its power use up 37%
Microsoft
GHG Protocol: Scope 1 + Scope 2 (market-based) + Scope 3. Fiscal year ending June 30. Baseline: FY2020.
“Our total emissions (Scopes 1, 2, and 3) increased 25% year over year, driven primarily by the expansion of our datacenter infrastructure and pausing our use of non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates”Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Sustainability Report, p. 6
| Year | Emissions (million t CO2e) | Change vs FY2020 | Electricity (TWh) | Water withdrawn (megaliters) | Water consumed (megaliters) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 13.06 | Baseline | 10.8 | 6,794 | 3,990 |
| FY2021 | 14.91 | +14% | 13.6 | 7,747 | 4,794 |
| FY2022 | 17.17 | +31% | 18.2 | 8,698 | 5,329 |
| FY2023 | 17.66 | +35% | 23.6 | 9,666 | 5,818 |
| FY2024 | 16.69 | +28% | 29.8 | 11,590 | 6,693 |
| FY2025 | 21.12 | +62% | 37.0 | 13,266 | 8,170 |
- Microsoft's headline figure, 20.29 million tons and up 25%, uses its own "management's criteria", which net fuel certificates and renewable power out of three supply-chain categories (Fact Sheet, p. 4). The GHG Protocol total in this table is 21.12 million tons, up 27%.
- Market-based Scope 2 went from 259,090 tons in FY2024 to 2,707,428 tons in FY2025 after Microsoft stopped buying spot renewable energy certificates in February 2025 (Fact Sheet, pp. 3 and 6).
Emissions: Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Data Fact Sheet, p. 3. Baseline year: Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Data Fact Sheet, p. 9. Electricity, whole company, as Microsoft does not report data centers separately: Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Data Fact Sheet, p. 6. Water, whole company: Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Data Fact Sheet, p. 7.
Every story on Microsoft · Microsoft's emissions rose 27% in a year, and it stopped claiming carbon neutrality · Microsoft plants wetlands and prairie at 20-plus data centers as emissions rise 27%
Meta
Scope 1 + Scope 2 (market-based) + Scope 3, before carbon removal credits. Calendar year. Baseline: 2021.
“AI is driving growth across the company, which is driving increased demand for energy and water.”Meta, 2025 Sustainability Report, p. 7
| Year | Emissions (million t CO2e) | Change vs 2021 | Electricity (TWh) | Water withdrawn (megaliters) | Water consumed (megaliters) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 5.13 | -12% | 7.0 | 3,726 | 2,202 |
| 2021 | 5.83 | Baseline | 9.1 | 5,043 | 2,569 |
| 2022 | 8.53 | +46% | 11.2 | 4,893 | 2,638 |
| 2023 | 7.50 | +29% | 15.0 | 5,274 | 3,078 |
| 2024 | 8.20 | +41% | 18.1 | 5,637 | 3,123 |
- Meta had not published its 2025 figures in a report we could open as of October 17, 2026. Its newest data covers 2024.
- For 2024, Meta calculated parts of Scope 3 with its own "management's criteria", which apply contractual instruments. Earlier years used a different mix of methods (Data Index, p. E).
- Measured by the grids it draws on (location-based), Meta emitted 15.63 million tons in 2024 (Data Index, p. B).
- Water withdrawn for building data centers, 1,019 megaliters in 2024, is not in the withdrawal figure (Data Index, p. I).
Emissions: Meta, 2025 Environmental Data Index, p. B. Baseline year: Meta, 2025 Sustainability Report, p. 13. Electricity, data centers: Meta, 2025 Environmental Data Index, p. F. Water, data centers and offices: Meta, 2025 Environmental Data Index, p. I and K.
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Amazon
Scope 1 + Scope 2 (market-based) + Scope 3, by Amazon's own carbon methodology. Calendar year. Baseline: 2019.
“Perhaps none bigger than AI, which is both transforming what's possible ... yet also creating new demands for energy, water, and infrastructure.”Amazon, 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, p. 3
| Year | Emissions (million t CO2e) | Change vs 2019 | Electricity (TWh) | Water withdrawn (billion liters) | Water consumed (billion liters) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 51.17 | Baseline | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2020 | 60.64 | +19% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2021 | 71.54 | +40% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2022 | 65.37 | +28% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2023 | 65.28 | +28% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2024 | 69.55 | +36% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| 2025 | 80.85 | +58% | Not reported | 9.4 | Not reported |
- Amazon recalculated 2022 to 2025 under an updated methodology. 2019 to 2021 were not recalculated, so the change against 2019 crosses two methods (Report, p. 46).
- Amazon states its 2025 figure was calculated with the market-based method (Data tables, p. 5). Measured by the grids it draws on, its 2025 Scope 2 was 21.82 million tons, against 3.74 million market-based (Assurance statement, p. 3).
- Electricity from data centers drove a 34% rise in Scope 2 in 2025 (Report, p. 10). Amazon does not report how much electricity its data centers use, or how much water they consume.
- Amazon's data centers withdrew 9.4 billion liters of water in 2025. The report gives no figure for earlier years.
Emissions: Amazon, 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, p. 46. Baseline year: Amazon, 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, p. 7. Electricity: not reported. Water, data centers only: Amazon, 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, p. 14.
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How to read this
Emissions are Scope 1 (fuel burned on site), Scope 2 (electricity bought) and Scope 3 (the supply chain, including the steel, concrete and chips that go into data centers). Scope 3 is the largest part for all four companies.
Market-based or location-based. Scope 2 can be counted two ways. Location-based uses the average pollution of the grids a company draws on. Market-based subtracts the clean power contracts and certificates it buys. Every total here is market-based, the lower of the two. In 2025 Google's location-based Scope 2 was 15.15 million tons against 2.82 million market-based. Amazon's was 21.82 million against 3.74 million. Microsoft's, in fiscal 2025, was 12.03 million against 2.71 million.
Each company draws the line differently. Google and Microsoft both publish a second, smaller headline number that leaves out or nets down parts of the supply chain; the notes under each table give it. Meta and Amazon apply their own methods to parts of Scope 3. Compare a company with itself over time before comparing companies with each other.
Years. Microsoft's fiscal year ends June 30, so FY2025 is July 2024 to June 2025. The others report calendar years.
Change vs baseline is our arithmetic from the company's own figures, against the year the company set its climate goal from. Electricity is data center use where the company reports it separately, and whole-company use where it does not. Water withdrawn is what a company takes in. Water consumed is what it takes in and does not discharge again.
Not reported means the report we cite does not give that figure. We do not estimate. Apple is not here yet. Last checked October 17, 2026.
Sources
- Google, Environmental Report 2026 (covers 2025)
- Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Data Fact Sheet (covers fiscal 2025)
- Microsoft, 2026 Environmental Sustainability Report (covers fiscal 2025)
- Meta, 2025 Environmental Data Index (covers 2024)
- Meta, 2025 Sustainability Report (covers 2024)
- Amazon, 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report (covers 2025)
- Amazon, 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, accessible data tables (covers 2025)
- Amazon, 2025 GHG Assurance Statement, Scope 1 and 2 (covers 2025)