Global data centre industry to emit 2.5 billion tons of CO2 through 2030, Morgan Stanley says

A boom in data centers is expected to produce about 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions globally through the end of the decade, and accelerate investments in decarbonization efforts, according to Morgan Stanley research.

Hyperscalers, which include Google (GOOGL.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), Meta (META.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O), are driving the swift proliferation of electricity-guzzling data centres to expand their artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies. At the same time, the companies are holding onto pledges to slash global warming emissions from their centres by 2030.

“This creates a large market for decarbonization solutions,” according to Morgan Stanley’s research report, which said the greenhouse gas emissions by the global data centre industry will amount to about 40 per cent of what the entire US emits in a year.

The build-out of the giant computer warehouses will increase investments in clean power development; energy efficient equipment and so-called green building materials, Morgan Stanley said. 

Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technology and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes are also expected to get a boost as tech companies try to keep their climate promises, the report said.