The environmental impact of AI is a growing area of study and one that businesses must begin to seriously consider.

When you power a data center with coal, it’s obvious that it’s having a detrimental impact on the environment. But is a ‘green’ data center really green? And to what extent might the benefits of AI outweigh potential environmental negatives?

In this episode, Jane and Rory discuss the shifting sustainability targets of the world’s public cloud giants, as caused by AI, and what they’re doing to get back on track.

Read more:

1. Microsoft Environmental Sustainability Report 2025
2. Amazon 2024 Sustainability Report
3. Google 2025 Environmental Report
4. Google emissions have surged 51% in five years – but it’s making solid progress in data center efficiency
5. Data center carbon emissions are set to skyrocket by 2030, with hyperscalers producing 2.5 billion tons of carbon
6. Small businesses are ‘flying blind’ on carbon emissions and struggling to meet sustainability goals – and the blame lies with big tech vendors
7. Big tech’s solution for AI-related carbon emissions could be more AI
8. Microsoft wants to drastically cut carbon emissions, so it’s building data centers with wood
9. Can small modular reactors meet data center power demand?
10. Google just confirmed the location of its first small modular reactor
11. Hyperscalers go nuclear
12. Gas-powered data centers: what's behind the boom?
13. Could all data centers go solar?
14. TPUs: Google's home advantage
15. What is a tensor processing unit (TPU)?
16. AI’s thirsty secret