Digital giants step up climate promise, but…

Despite progress in climate reporting and renewable electricity use, digital companies are falling short in cutting emissions at the pace required to achieve global climate targets, according to the new report Greening Digital Companies: Monitoring Emissions and Climate Commitments 2026.

Published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), the report evaluates the climate performance of 200 digital companies globally using publicly disclosed data relating to the 2024 reporting year. The fifth edition of Greening Digital Companies tracks greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy consumption, climate targets, renewable energy use and, for the first time, climate transition planning.

Findings show that artificial intelligence (AI) is both a driver of efficiency and a growing challenge. Leading AI and cloud providers saw their individual emissions rise between 2020 and 2024, driven by soaring energy demand and expansion of infrastructure.

“While digital technologies offer immense potential for climate action, their rising energy demands and emissions cannot be overlooked,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General. “Environmental sustainability must be built into how we design, power and scale the technologies shaping our shared digital future.”

Highlights from the report

• Climate reporting

  : Climate reporting has improved, but significant gaps remain. While 89 per cent of companies reported direct emissions (Scope 1) and 81 per cent reported purchased energy (Scope 2), only 47 per cent reported emissions from across all relevant value chain activities (Scope 3).

• Greenhouse gas emissions:

  In 2024, digital companies reported 301 million tonnes of operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2) in carbon dioxide equivalent, equivalent to 0.8 per cent of global energy-related emissions and a 1.2 per cent increase from 2023. For companies disclosing value-chain emissions (Scope 3), these dominated their carbon footprint, accounting for 76 per cent of total emissions and underscoring the sector’s challenges in supply chains, manufacturing, and product use.

• Electricity consumption

  : 163 companies reported consuming 494 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2024, equivalent to approximately 1.7 per cent of global electricity consumption. Over half of this electricity consumption (54 per cent) was concentrated in just 10 companies, surpassing the annual electricity use of some countries.

• Renewable electricity

  : While digital companies remain among the world’s largest corporate purchasers of renewable electricity, only 25 of the 200 companies assessed reported sourcing 100 per cent renewable electricity.

• Climate targets:

  151 (or 76 per cent) of the assessed companies submitted near-term reduction targets for Scope 1 and 2 emissions, reflecting both voluntary leadership and the influence of investor expectations, scientific and awareness-raising campaigns, and emerging regulatory requirements. However, just 114 targets were validated by science-based frameworks with 85 assessed as on track based on progress to date.

• Climate transition plans:

  Only 81 companies (41 per cent) demonstrated comprehensive plans to meet climate goals, including strategic ambition, implementation and engagement strategies, clear metrics, targets, and governance. This highlights the urgent need for more robust planning to manage the necessary economic, social and energy transitions.

“Digital companies need to engage suppliers and address emissions across the products and services they rely on,” said Gerbrand Haverkamp, Executive Director of the World Benchmarking Alliance. “For example, the electronics sector, which provides many inputs underpinning digital infrastructure, accounts for 53 per cent of reported emissions across all three subsectors.”

AI’s double-edged sword

The report identifies AI as an increasingly important factor shaping the sector’s emission trajectory. Operational emissions from four major AI and cloud providers have soared, reaching up to 239 per cent of their 2020 levels, while 14 large telecom operators reduced their emissions by 11 per cent over the same period.

While AI supports climate action through energy optimization, renewable forecasting, and efficiency gains, it comes with its own environmental costs. The report underlines the critical need for AI growth to align with clean energy investments and emissions management.

From commitments to implementation

The report identifies priority actions, such as strengthening climate reporting, reducing Scope 3 emissions, improving the implementation of climate transition plans, and aligning AI and digital infrastructure expansion with clean energy development.

“The ICT sector has the innovation, resources, and influence to help shape a more sustainable digital future,” said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. “Realising that potential means turning climate commitments into implementation, cutting emissions, strengthening collaboration among various sector actors and ensuring that digital growth, including AI, advances alongside clean energy development.”

ITU supports this work through collaborative initiatives like its Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators, with a key sub-group developing harmonized national-level indicators for tech-related GHG emissions and energy use. The latest findings also reinforce ITU’s Green Digital Action initiative, which calls for greater transparency on energy use, emissions, and progress toward science-based targets.

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