11 Gas-Powered AI Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Morocco

Gas-Powered AI Data Centers Raise Climate Concerns

A Wired investigation has uncovered that 11 gas power projects connected to AI data centers across the United States could potentially emit 129 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually—surpassing the entire carbon footprint of Morocco in 2024 1

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. The findings spotlight the environmental impact of AI as major technology companies race to expand infrastructure to support the AI boom environmental cost.

The natural gas power projects are being developed to provide electricity solely for US data center campuses, effectively bypassing the traditional power grid 2

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. Companies including OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and xAI have been linked to these facilities, which have either been announced or are already under construction. Each project has submitted air permits to state agencies, providing publicly viewable data that reveals the scale of potential emissions from data centers.

Major Tech Players and Their Carbon Footprint

Microsoft is reportedly looking to purchase power from a Chevron-backed natural gas project in West Texas that could emit more than 11.5 million tons of greenhouse gases each year—exceeding Jamaica's annual emissions 1

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. Meanwhile, xAI's gas turbines powering the Colossus campus in Memphis, Tennessee and Colossus 2 in Southaven, Mississippi could each generate more than 6.4 million tons of CO2 equivalents per year—equivalent to roughly 30 average-sized natural gas plants 2

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The Stargate Project, an OpenAI-led multicompany venture creating multiple data center facilities across several US states, presents additional climate change concerns from AI. Permit documents for just three Stargate-affiliated natural gas power projects show a combined potential to emit more than 24 million tons of greenhouse gases annually—more than Costa Rica and slightly less than Croatia 2

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Understanding the Real Impact on Sustainability

While the emissions data derives from models assuming power plants run continuously at full capacity—an unlikely scenario for standard grid-connected facilities—the actual output could still be substantial. Alex Schott, director of communications for an oil and gas company building three power plants for Meta, suggested actual emissions could be "potentially two-thirds less than what's on the paper" 2

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. Even at half the maximum figures shown on air permits, the combined gas-powered AI data centers infrastructure would still create more emissions in a single year than Norway did in 2024.

However, energy researcher Jon Koomey noted that data center-specific gas plants may behave differently than traditional facilities. A November permit application states that unlike traditional power plants responding to constantly varying grid demands, "at the data center, the power requirements do not vary significantly" 2

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. This could mean these facilities run longer and more consistently, potentially increasing AI's sustainability problems.

What This Means for AI's Future

The development of these facilities raises questions about whether users want to support technology with such significant climate implications. As data center growth accelerates to meet AI processing demands, the gap between current infrastructure and clean energy solutions widens. Koomey also warned that with highly efficient gas turbines in short supply, some developers are already considering less efficient models, which will need to run longer and create more emissions from data centers 2

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While many companies describe these gas facilities as temporary solutions until clean power catches up, it remains unclear whether all would be retired once cleaner energy sources come online. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to accelerate nuclear power plant construction, but the timeline for such alternatives remains uncertain. Some hope exists that global supply chain instability affecting AI infrastructure—from memory to power plant equipment—may slow data center growth enough for sustainable energy to catch up. As energy research firm Cleanview founder Michael Thomas warns: "It's almost like we thought we were on the downside of the industrial revolution, retiring coal and gas, and now we have a new hump where we're going to rise. That terrifies me in a lot of ways" 2

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