Cloud
Sustainability Watch
Advocacy to address the climate impact of cloud computing, AI, and data centers
The environmental impact of cloud computing has been an afterthought.
Times have changed.
Are you part of the problem?
Your company’s online computing takes a bite out of the world’s power supply, uses up drinking water, and emits carbon dioxide.
Most organizations and their tech teams don’t consider environmental harm when making decisions about cloud computing. Solutions like low-carbon data centers, green software design, efficient AI use, and emissions tracking all exist today. But it takes technology decision makers to adopt these options and reverse the mounting damage from data centers, AI, and cloud computing.
The Cloud Service Providers
How are the cloud computing leaders addressing their share of the solution?
The Contest for Electrical Power
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IT TOOLS
If you are a technology decision maker, find technical resources from around the web
OUR ANALYSIS
If you are a concerned advocate for mitigating your organization’s impact, learn about the problem
LIBRARY
Research, articles, blogs, podcasts, videos
Recent Headlines
The environmental impact of cloud computing, AI, and data centers is a breaking news topic. Here is a collection of recent articles from leading publications that add to the public conversation and spur action.
Three New York Cities’ Worth of Power: AI Is Stressing the Grid
The Wall Street Journal | September 28, 2024
Data center water usage remains hidden
Data Centre Dynamics | October 21, 2024
Noisy, Hungry Data Centers Are Catching Communities by Surprise
The New York Times | September 15, 2024
Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needs
The Verge | September 20, 2024
Amazon, Google pick nuclear option to power AI data center demands
SDXCentral | October 21, 2024
Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse?
The Guardian | September 15, 2024
Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needs
The Verge | September 20, 2024
Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needs
The Verge | September 20, 2024
Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needs
The Verge | September 20, 2024
Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needs
The Verge | September 20, 2024
Our Blog
Our Panel at San Francisco Climate Week
Tech teams and others must start building awareness of the environmental impact of online computing by asking what might be the carbon footprint of their organization’s cloud applications.
Carbone4’s evaluation of customer emissions tracking dashboards from hyperscalers
The team at the French consulting firm Carbone4 did a valuable analysis of the emissions calculators available to customers at: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, and OVHCloud.
Data Centers Disrupt Communities
A difficult fact of siting data centers is that nearby communities endure high water consumption, impacts of power supply, exposure to noise from cooling systems, and the eyesore of the facility. Community members often object to data center construction while local governments are frequently welcoming.