US power-sector emissions could rise 42% by 2030 — The Verge

In the United States, carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation could be 42% higher by 2030 than in 2025 due to the expansion of fossil-fuel infrastructure to supply data centers. The Verge cites this estimate from a new Sierra Club analysis.

Emissions growth forecast

According to the organization’s calculations, if the planned artificial intelligence projects are implemented, CO2 emissions from electricity generation will increase by 618 million tonnes by the end of the decade. This roughly corresponds to the annual emissions associated with the electricity consumption of 128,788,523 households.

The Sierra Club believes that this scenario would effectively erase 15 years of greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the country. The organization’s estimate is higher than some previous forecasts by other research groups.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

The role of data centers and fossil fuels

Another study, published by academic researchers in June, projected that electricity demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities could increase power-sector emissions by 28% by 2030 compared with a scenario without growth in the number of data centers. The outcome will depend on how many planned facilities are built and what technologies are used to supply them with electricity.

Net greenhouse gas emissions in the United States fell from approximately 6.58 billion metric tonnes in 2007 to about 5.35 billion tonnes in 2025. At the same time, they began to rise last year amid increased electricity demand from data centers. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, the United States is now planning to build more fossil-fuel capacity than it has in the past decade.