Amazon received authorization to build a 7.65-gigawatt natural gas power plant in Texas with 35 turbines dedicated to powering its AI datacenters, enabling 33 million tons of annual CO₂ emissions.
A new Amazon data center is set to become the single largest source of environmental pollution in the U.S., according to a New York Times report from August 8. The tech giant, which already operates the most data centers worldwide, is building a natural gas power plant in Pecos County, Texas, to power its new data center at the same site. According to project permits, the plant would generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of power using 35 natural gas turbines. The facility has been authorized to release 33 million tons of CO₂ annually—more planet-warming gases than any other power plant in the country.
This expansion presents a stark contrast to Amazon's climate commitments. In 2019, the company pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across all its global business operations by 2040, when it initiated and co-founded The Climate Pledge—a voluntary coalition of over 700 companies aimed at addressing corporate carbon footprints and rallying global supply chains. However, Amazon's emissions have risen each year for the past several years, a trend analysts attribute to the spike in data centers required to support the AI boom. The company is currently building several additional AI data centers globally, including the one that the new gas plant would power in Texas.
Amazon has acknowledged the tension between its AI ambitions and earlier climate pledges. "The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge," said Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokeswoman. "Still, our commitment hasn't changed." Amazon's position echoes similar statements from Microsoft, which is struggling to fulfill its 2030 sustainability promise amid carbon-heavy AI expansion while insisting it remains committed to the goal.
An increasing number of hyperscalers and data center operators are switching from grid connections to dedicated on-site power generation. These "behind-the-meter" moves are driven mainly by the long timelines required to set up new power infrastructure to connect power-hungry data centers to the grid, but also by growing opposition to data centers over irreversible increases in electricity bills for nearby communities. While many companies are pursuing nuclear and renewable energy options—including Microsoft's Three Mile Island nuclear deal and Meta's agreement to secure up to 1GW of orbital solar capacity—natural gas remains the leading preference due to its scalability and speed of deployment. The Trump administration has thrown its weight behind such projects for data centers, promoting oil, natural gas, and coal over renewable energy sources.