The boom in data centres – driven by digital transformation, cloud infrastructure, and the continued adoption of AI – is expected to produce about 2.5 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions globally through the end of the decade, according to research from Morgan Stanley.

Equally, the emissions are set to increase investment in decarbonisation initiatives, the research revealed.

Hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are driving the surge in data centre buildings and emissions.

However, these companies are planning to stick to their word on cutting emissions by 2030, which the report says will galvanise a market expansion in decarbonisation solutions.

According to the analysis, the global data centre industry will contribute about 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions that the US emits in an entire year.

Morgan Stanley claims that the build-out of the giant computer warehouses will increase investments in clean power development, energy efficient equipment, and building materials that have been dubbed as ‘green’.

Carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS) technology and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes are also expected to get a boost from tech companies trying to keep up with their climate promises, as they continue to invest in carbon-heavy infrastructure and technology.

AI appears to be a double-edged sword as the climate crisis looms, with more data centres and improve semiconductors requiring even more processing power, and therefore more energy.

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Still, AI can be employed to better allocate resources, and even decrease the reliance on oil and other carbon-producing fossil fuels, research from Goldman Sachs revealed.

As companies continue to invest in data centres, and carbon capture technology struggled to keep up, it seems like the chances of reaching net zero goals has grown steeper.

Microsoft has pledged to be carbon negative by 2030, but has been found in the past to ‘greenwash’ some of its carbon offset claims.

Further, the company’s total carbon emissions rose 30% since 2020, largely due to constructing data centres, manufacturing chips, servers, and racks necessary to support AI.