Indirect carbon emissions from the operations of four of the leading AI-focused tech companies, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta, rose on average by 150% from 2020-2023, as they had to use more power for energy-demanding data centres, a United Nations report said on Thursday.

The use of artificial intelligence is driving up global indirect emissions because of the vast amounts of energy required to power data centers, the report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the U.N. agency for digital technologies, said.

Indirect emissions include those generated by purchased electricity, steam, heating and cooling consumed by a company.

Amazon’s operational carbon emissions grew the most at 182% in 2023 compared to three years before, followed by Microsoft at 155%, Meta at 14

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