New Delhi, July 3 -- SAN FRANCISCO - The technology industry built its climate credentials on a decade of renewable energy contracts, carbon offset purchases, and net-zero pledges signed when artificial intelligence demand was still manageable. Google and Amazon published data this week that shows how thoroughly the AI boom has undone that framework.

natural gas.

The headline figures understate the problem. Google's Scope 3 emissions, the indirect carbon produced across the full supply chain required to manufacture and operate AI hardware, doubled since the company's 2019 baseline. They rose by 2.1 million metric tons last year alone. Scope 3 accounting was the mechanism through which the tech industry's renewable energy purchases were ...