Global data centers used 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity last year — more than the total electricity consumption of all but 10 nations worldwide, according to a new report from the United Nations University. The figure places the data center industry’s energy footprint between those of France and the United Kingdom.
The electricity consumed by data centers in 2025 produced about 208 million tons of carbon dioxide, the report said, an emissions total comparable to Argentina’s. Generating that much power consumed an estimated 1.2 trillion gallons of water, the report found.
By 2030, data center electricity use is projected to rise to 935 trillion watt-hours, the UN University said — nearly double the 2025 level and roughly 3% of the world’s projected total electricity demand. If data centers were a country, they would rank sixth globally in power consumption by 2030, behind only China, the United States, India, Russia and Japan.
Carbon dioxide emissions from data centers are projected to reach 440 million tons by 2030, according to the report, which focused primarily on energy use. The report did not examine the substantial volumes of water used directly for cooling data centers, a separate environmental cost that has drawn increasing scrutiny from regulators and community groups.
The findings highlight a tension at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom: the computational power driving advances in AI requires massive physical infrastructure that carries steep environmental costs. The report’s authors said that without changes in energy sourcing or efficiency, the sector’s resource consumption will continue to grow in lockstep with AI adoption.