Data centers could send US climate pollution skyrocketing

AI Summary

A Sierra Club analysis warns that planned data center construction could drive a sharp increase in U.S. power-sector emissions by 2030 if new fossil-fuel infrastructure is built to meet electricity demand. It estimates emissions could rise 42 percent above 2025 levels, erasing 15 years of reductions.

The US power sector could release 42 percent more planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution by 2030 than it did in 2025 as it builds out more fossil fuel infrastructure to meet data center electricity demand, according to a new analysis by the Sierra Club. That would essentially wipe out 15 years of greenhouse gas reductions. CO2 emissions from electricity generation would increase by 618 million tons by the end of the decade if planned AI projects are constructed. That's roughly equivalent to carbon pollution from the electricity use of 128,788,523 homes in a year. The Sierra Club's estimate is higher than some previous projections The Sie … Read the full story at The Verge.