Amazon: AI, Data Centres and 712 Carbon Free Energy Projects

AI adoption is accelerating worldwide, and so is the demand for cloud computing and data centres.

This global demand and expansion is raising concerns about energy consumption and carbon emissions, which is causing leading companies to invest in renewable energy, efficient infrastructure and innovative sustainability solutions. 

Amazon's 2025 Sustainability Report highlights how advancements in AI, carbon-free energy projects and data centre technologies can support both digital transformation and climate action. 

By combining technological innovation with long-term environmental commitments, the company is working to reduce its operational footprint while helping customers build more sustainable businesses.

Energy-efficient data centres

The rapid growth of AI and cloud computing has significantly increased demand for data centre capacity, making energy efficiency more important than ever. 

In 2025, Amazon expanded its global infrastructure by adding more than 1.2 GW of new data centre capacity during the fourth quarter alone while continuing to improve operational efficiency. 

Research cited in the report estimates that organisations migrating workloads from on-premises infrastructure to Amazon process data approximately 4.1 times more efficiently. 

Amazon has also introduced custom-designed AI chips, including Trainium3, which deliver more than five times higher AI output per megawatt of power than previous generations while maintaining comparable performance. 

“We've encountered tremendous change in each of the seven years since setting The Climate Pledge in 2019,” says Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer, Amazon.

“Perhaps none bigger than AI, which is both transforming what's possible, accelerating discovery, optimising systems and unlocking solutions that weren't within reach before, yet also creating new demands for energy, water and infrastructure. 

“While the speed and scale of AI adoption is unique, and the change is happening faster and more broadly than anything else we’ve encountered in our lifetimes, the need to stay stubborn on our vision and flexible on the details is familiar territory. 

“I remain confident and optimistic in the overarching vision and the long-term progress we continue to make toward it.”

Advanced liquid-to-chip cooling technology further reduces mechanical cooling energy consumption by up to 50% during peak periods without increasing water use. 

In addition, AI-powered monitoring tools now optimise HVAC systems and utilities across 820 Amazon buildings, identifying equipment faults and improving operational efficiency. 

These innovations demonstrate how technology can reduce the environmental impact of rapidly growing digital infrastructure while supporting increasing global demand for AI services.

Carbon-free energy to support AI growth

Meeting the energy demands of AI requires significant investment in clean electricity generation and Amazon continues to expand one of the world's largest corporate carbon-free energy portfolios. 

By January 2026, Amazon had enabled more than 712 carbon-free energy projects across 30 countries, including 80 new projects announced during 2025. 

Together, these projects represent approximately 42 GW of clean energy capacity, enough to power around 13 million US homes annually while avoiding an estimated 48 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions once fully operational. 

For the third consecutive year, Amazon matched 100% of the electricity consumed across its operations with renewable energy sources. 

The company's portfolio now includes 375 utility-scale renewable energy projects comprising 264 solar farms, 109 wind farms and two nuclear energy projects, alongside growing investments in battery storage and small modular nuclear reactors. 

“We were investing heavily in clean energy for many years before it became a dinner table conversation,” says Kara.

“This early commitment has led us to become one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy for six years in a row, one of the most energy efficient data centre operators in the world and an early investor in new technologies like small modular reactors (SMRs).”

Amazon is also investing in grid infrastructure that benefits surrounding communities while ensuring its expanding AI and cloud operations are supported by reliable carbon-free electricity. 

This diversified approach illustrates how renewable energy, nuclear power and advanced energy storage technologies can collectively accelerate the transition towards a lower-carbon digital economy.

AI for sustainable innovation

AI is becoming an essential tool for addressing environmental challenges while improving the sustainability of technology operations.

Amazon applies AI throughout its business to improve efficiency, monitor utilities, reduce waste and optimise resource management across its facilities.

In 2025, AI-powered systems were used to detect leaks, identify malfunctioning HVAC equipment and improve operational performance across hundreds of Amazon buildings.

AI also supports sustainability beyond data centres by enabling waste sorting technologies capable of identifying more than 110 different waste categories in real time and by powering robotic systems that safely disassemble retired servers for reuse and recycling.

National laboratories are using Amazon AI technology to support research into next-generation nuclear energy, while the company invested US$100m through its Education Equity Initiative to expand access to AI education and technical skills globally.

Amazon also invested US$1m in 43 projects focused on developing AI solutions that contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Alongside these innovations, the company continues to strengthen responsible AI governance through comprehensive safety frameworks, transparency measures and policies designed to ensure AI is deployed ethically and sustainably. 

Water conservation and circular technology

As AI hardware becomes more powerful, managing water use and material consumption has become a critical sustainability priority for modern data centres. Amazon has committed to becoming water positive by 2030 and has achieved 75% of this target by the end of 2025.

The company reduced its global Water Use Effectiveness (WUE) to just 0.12 litres per kilowatt-hour, representing a 20% improvement compared with 2024 and a 52% improvement since 2021.

Innovative cooling technologies, including in-row heat exchangers and configurable liquid-to-chip cooling, are helping minimise both water and energy consumption while supporting increasingly powerful AI workloads.

Beyond water conservation, Amazon is embracing circular economy principles by extending the lifespan of servers, increasing equipment reuse and deploying AI-powered robotics to recover valuable materials from retired hardware.

Since 2020, reusing and reselling data centre equipment has prevented approximately 225,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions, while programmes extending hardware life have avoided the purchase of more than one million new hard drives since 2023.

Together, these initiatives highlight how sustainable technology design, resource efficiency and renewable energy investments are helping create data centres that support future AI growth while reducing environmental impacts.