Planned Amazon data center could become the biggest climate polluter in the U.S.

6 days ago 21

In Brief

Posted:

2:24 PM PDT · August 8, 2026

Natural state  powerfulness  works  fume  stacks basal   against a twilight sky.Image Credits:Thossaphol / Getty Images
  • Anthony Ha

As portion of a planned information halfway successful Pecos County, Texas, Amazon is investing successful an on-site powerfulness works that could go the largest root of clime contamination successful the United States, according to The New York Times.

The NYT says the works would pain earthy state and is permitted to merchandise 33 cardinal tons of c dioxide per twelvemonth — much than immoderate different powerfulness works successful the U.S.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the information halfway volition “be powered by caller on-site procreation that won’t rise energy costs for Texas families.” (Data centers face increasing governmental opposition for a fig of reasons, including their effect connected energy costs.)

AI has already had a important interaction connected Amazon’s c emissions, which it reported were up 16% past year — the incorrect absorption for a institution that pledged to destruct its c emissions by 2040. And that could get worse arsenic Amazon and tech companies back the improvement of immense earthy state plants to enactment their power-hungry information centers.

The Amazon spokesperson said, “The satellite looks antithetic present than erstwhile we co-founded the clime pledge,” portion besides claiming, “Our committedness hasn’t changed.”

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