- Amazon says emissions increased by 16% in 2025 and emissions from purchased electricity by 34%
- Projects use renewable energy and low-carbon materials
- Data center PUE continues to improve, but Google is doing better
In its 2025 Sustainability Report, Amazon revealed that its absolute emissions increased by 16% to 80.9 million tonnes, meaning that a single company now generates as many emissions as an entire country: New Zealand (77.8 million tonnes in 2024).
The company has blamed AI for creating unprecedented energy demand, leading to a significant increase in emissions in 2025, but it says long-term investments in renewable energy and data center efficiencies keep it on track to reach its net zero emissions target by 2040.
However, this is the largest annual increase in Amazon’s emissions since launching its net-zero climate commitment, and its data center expansion plans continue to expand.
Amazon emissions continue to rise – net zero emissions target for 2040 remains realistic
Although AWS revenue grew 20% in 2025, Amazon noted that the amount of CO2 per dollar of revenue actually increased 3% year over year – although this figure, known as carbon intensity, is still 38% lower than in 2019 before aggressive AI-powered data center expansions.
But while data centers have certainly led to increased energy consumption and carbon emissions, the company’s biggest contributor is actually its supply chain. Around three-quarters (76%) of its total emissions now come from its supply chain, up 20% year-on-year.
Despite the 34% increase in emissions from purchased electricity, these emissions represent only about one-twentieth (5%) of Amazon’s total carbon footprint.
Amazon also noted that 80 new renewable and carbon-free energy projects in 2025 brought its overall capacity to 42 GW across 712 projects, with 61 of its construction projects last year using low-carbon materials.
But with a power use efficiency (PUE) score of 1.14, its data centers fall short of Google’s 1.09 figure for 2024.
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