Morgan Stanley: Data centers will produce 2.5 billion tons of emissions by 2030

The latest research from Morgan Stanley predicts that the data center boom will produce about 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions globally by the end of the decade, as well as accelerate investments in decarbonization efforts.

Major companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are promoting the rapid deployment of electricity-intensive data centers to expand their artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies.

At the same time, the companies are adhering to their pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their centers by 2030.

According to a Morgan Stanley research report released on Monday, “this creates a large market for decarbonization solutions,” the report said, noting that greenhouse gas emissions from the global data center sector will reach about 40 percent of what the entire United States emits in a year.

Morgan Stanley said that the expansion of supercomputer warehouses will increase investments in the development of clean energy, energy-efficient equipment and building materials known as green materials.

The report also said that carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are expected to boom as technology companies seek to deliver on their climate promises.