AI boom doubles Australian data centre carbon emissions

New data from the Clean Energy Regulator reveals that Australia's premier data centre operators, including Amazon, AirTrunk, and CDC, have more than doubled their carbon emissions over the past five years.

Driven by an insatiable demand for artificial intelligence and cloud services, scope two emissions—derived from grid electricity consumption—rose by over 20% in the 2024-25 period alone.

The exponential growth is placing immense pressure on the federal government’s climate agenda and the national energy infrastructure.

While the sector argues that consolidated data centres are more energy-efficient than on-premise servers, critics and policymakers remain wary.

Federal MP Ed Husic warned that the current "frenzy" is outstripping the rollout of renewable energy, forcing facilities to rely on coal-fired power.