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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
The remarkable rise of 'greenhushing'
Read the headlines and the easy conclusion is that big business has abandoned the fight against climate change. In the past two weeks BP, an oil giant, sold its American onshore-wind business; Jaguar Land Rover, a carmaker, has reportedly delayed the launch of its new electric Range Rover; and HSBC, a bank, left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (nzba), a group committed to lending in a greener way. But these bits of news are only part of the picture. Taken as a whole, companies are quietly making progress on their climate goals. Consider a report published in March by PWC, an auditor. It found that of the 4,000-odd firms that reported climate commitments last year to the CDP, a non-profit, only 16% dialled back their goals, while 47% stood by them and 37% became more ambitious. The analysis also found that 67% of companies with targets were on track to meet them, a proportion which had inched up by three percentage points compared with 2023. Once firms were accused of 'greenwashing': making nonsense promises, and doing nothing to achieve them. Now they seem to be 'greenhushing'—getting on with the job of decarbonisation, without making a fuss. Firms are also improving the rigour of their targets. Some are moving away from using ineffective carbon offsets to claim carbon neutrality, says Thomas Day of the NewClimate Institute, a think-tank. That includes Microsoft, Google and easyJet. Our analysis of data from the Science Based Targets initiative (sbti), a non-profit that verifies climate goals, shows that the share of firms that target 'scope three' emissions (a category which includes pollution created in their supply chain and from the use of their products) in their goals rose from 28% in 2022 to 67% in 2024. This is welcome news because when businesses set green goals, decarbonisation tends to follow. MSCI, a provider of stockmarket indices, looked at the 2,400 or so large and medium-sized companies in their global index. In the past three years those with a climate target saw a 8% drop in their emissions intensity (defined as emissions from a firm's operations and from purchased energy per dollar of revenue). That figure declined by only 3% for those without a target. Even if this is promising, plenty of problems remain. One is that the sectors where there is backsliding are particularly crucial to slowing climate change. That includes the oil-and-gas industry, which is struggling to find a way to decarbonise profitably. Murray Auchincloss, bp's boss, announced a shift away from renewable energy and back to fossil fuels in a 'fundamental reset' earlier this year. On July 22nd news broke that Shell, Enbridge and Aker bp, three oil companies, quit the sbti's advisory group set up to define what 'net zero' means for oil companies. They reportedly left because they were told achieving it would mean not developing new oil and gas fields. Financial institutions are also backsliding. Along with hsbc, big American banks including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have dropped out of the nzba, as have some from Japan and Canada. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a think-tank, estimates that the leavers account for two-fifths of the group's total assets. The same problems are afflicting similar organisations, such as the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Last year Wells Fargo, another bank, scrapped its green-lending plans and in March Switzerland's ubs pushed back its climate targets after acquiring Credit Suisse. Part of the problem for financial institutions is politics, which was shifting even before Donald Trump returned to the White House. In America Republican senators have suggested that joining a green alliance could breach antitrust rules. Since Mr Trump's re-election the pressure has been cranked up. In January ten attorneys-general wrote to America's biggest financial firms, including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, threatening legal action if the companies did not change their climate and diversity policies. As a consequence, even companies that have continued to take action to decarbonise have grown more reluctant to parade their efforts. The number of times climate change is mentioned on earnings calls of companies in the s&p 500 or stoxx Europe 600 indices has dropped from 427 in the first quarter of 2022 to 246 in the first three months of this year. If they can no longer boast about their targets, then some firms might start to question whether setting them is worthwhile. Already companies that hoped their green credentials would give them a share-price boost as money flooded into sustainable-investment funds have been disappointed. Yet the fact that many are quietly persevering with decarbonisation points to a more comforting conclusion: that they realise that taking action is beneficial to their bottom lines, no matter what politicians say or do. If the worst accusation that environmentalists can level at a company is its tendency to greenhush, then that is surely a sign of progress. To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.
Time of India
27-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
AI data-center boom could destroy Big Tech's net-zero plans
By Carey L. Biron The fast-rising energy demands of Big Tech are undermining the ambitious climate pledges that Apple, Amazon , Google, Meta and Microsoft have all made in recent years, according to a report from the nonprofit NewClimate Institute. The research says the tech sector faces a "climate strategy crisis" as its data centers demand ever more electricity and water to power growing fields, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. "These companies seem to have lost their way with regard to climate strategies," report co-author Thomas Day told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. "The narrative has changed from 'we're fixed on the target' to 'we're really not sure, but we'll get there somehow.'" The picture is further complicated, he said, by ongoing negotiations over how to count and report future emissions. Big Tech has pledged to fight climate change and says it is striving to be sustainable in all aspects of its business. Day though points to Microsoft, which in February described its sustainability goals - made in 2020 - as a "moonshot". It then noted: "We have had to acknowledge that the moon has gotten further away." The company's electricity demand has tripled since 2020, the report found, as it invested in giant warehouses that house the computer systems which let users store photos, stream music, talk with AI chatbots and more. Microsoft declined to comment. DATA HUBS The proliferation of data centers has leapt in recent years. North America housed fewer than 1,500 in 2014; by this year, the United States alone had more than 5,400, according to Statista. Their average size and power usage has also jumped. The world's biggest tech firms have nearly all pledged to reach net zero by as soon as 2030, but environmental campaigners are concerned their growing reliance on data centers will bust those ambitions by consuming ever more energy and water. With AI expected to use about 12% of U.S. energy by the end of the decade, according to consultancy firm McKinsey , this could make it increasingly difficult for companies to transition from planet-heating fossil fuels to clean energy. GROWING GAP Based on publicly available information, the new report outlines massively increased emissions among the companies, alongside apparently minor changes in sustainability plans. Several of the plans, rather than resulting in net zero, appear to address only half of projected emissions, though NewClimate says hazy accounting makes the gap hard to pin down. While Meta's emissions have more than doubled since 2019, and Amazon's have nearly done so, Amazon's pledge to be net zero by 2040 "omits large portions of its business and remains unsubstantiated", relying on market-based solutions such as carbon credits to do the work. And while many of the companies contract out for a significant proportion of their business, using data centers they don't own, firms such as Meta and Microsoft don't tally these third-party operations in their overall emissions count. Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment. Meta declined to comment on the report, but a spokesperson said the company reports transparently on emissions and energy consumption, and pointed to a 2024 blog on its energy approach. Amazon said the report "mischaracterizes our data and makes inaccurate assumptions throughout - its own disclaimer even acknowledges NCI cannot guarantee its factual accuracy. "By contrast, we have a proven, independently audited, seven-year track record of transparently delivering facts that follow global reporting standards." It also called AI a transformative technology that is prompting energy demand to rise across industries and homes. The company listed a host of sustainability initiatives underway at Amazon, be it more efficient delivery routes, lower water use or eliminating plastic from packaging. "We're excited about what's ahead and will continue to share our progress openly," it said in a statement. NewClimate's report also flagged up a much broader concern, given how these companies undergird the wider digital economy, said Nick Dyer-Witheford, a professor of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario. He pointed to the role that Big Tech firms play worldwide "through digitally-targeted advertising, online shopping and influencer culture" which drives carbon-dioxide emissions. "It is the role of giant digital corporations in sustaining a global regime of ceaseless production and hyper-consumption that needs attention." AI In the United States, more than half of the 5,400 data centers operating in March ran on fossil fuels, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a U.S. think tank. Data center-driven energy demand rose by 12% from 2017 to 2024 and is expected to double again by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Furthermore, within three years almost half of that demand will be for AI data centers , which will then drive how utilities and grid operators have to respond, said Anurag K. Srivastava, a computer science professor at West Virginia University. That is because AI use is expected to fluctuate quickly and at scale, depending on the time of day or even as a particular meme or digital trend rocks the Internet, Srivastava said. "Gas is one (source of energy) that can ramp up and down quickly - you can't do that with nuclear or others," he said. "Solar can be done in the same way, but only if it's located there," he said, noting that large storage batteries could help. That raises the stakes for local communities, Srivastava said, with a gas-powered system that could handle such peaks and troughs coming at a high financial and environmental cost. Whatever the ramp-up in power looks like, it will unfold at unprecedented speed, said Srivastava, adding: "The rate of load change is probably one of the fastest we have seen."
Time of India
27-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
AI data-center boom could destroy Big Tech's net-zero plans
By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON: The fast-rising energy demands of Big Tech are undermining the ambitious climate pledges that Apple, Amazon , Google, Meta and Microsoft have all made in recent years, according to a report from the nonprofit NewClimate Institute. The research says the tech sector faces a "climate strategy crisis" as its data centers demand ever more electricity and water to power growing fields, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. "These companies seem to have lost their way with regard to climate strategies," report co-author Thomas Day told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. "The narrative has changed from 'we're fixed on the target' to 'we're really not sure, but we'll get there somehow.'" The picture is further complicated, he said, by ongoing negotiations over how to count and report future emissions. Big Tech has pledged to fight climate change and says it is striving to be sustainable in all aspects of its business. Day though points to Microsoft, which in February described its sustainability goals - made in 2020 - as a "moonshot". It then noted: "We have had to acknowledge that the moon has gotten further away." The company's electricity demand has tripled since 2020, the report found, as it invested in giant warehouses that house the computer systems which let users store photos, stream music, talk with AI chatbots and more. Microsoft declined to comment. DATA HUBS The proliferation of data centers has leapt in recent years. North America housed fewer than 1,500 in 2014; by this year, the United States alone had more than 5,400, according to Statista. Their average size and power usage has also jumped. The world's biggest tech firms have nearly all pledged to reach net zero by as soon as 2030, but environmental campaigners are concerned their growing reliance on data centers will bust those ambitions by consuming ever more energy and water. With AI expected to use about 12% of U.S. energy by the end of the decade, according to consultancy firm McKinsey , this could make it increasingly difficult for companies to transition from planet-heating fossil fuels to clean energy. GROWING GAP Based on publicly available information, the new report outlines massively increased emissions among the companies, alongside apparently minor changes in sustainability plans. Several of the plans, rather than resulting in net zero, appear to address only half of projected emissions, though NewClimate says hazy accounting makes the gap hard to pin down. While Meta's emissions have more than doubled since 2019, and Amazon's have nearly done so, Amazon's pledge to be net zero by 2040 "omits large portions of its business and remains unsubstantiated", relying on market-based solutions such as carbon credits to do the work. And while many of the companies contract out for a significant proportion of their business, using data centers they don't own, firms such as Meta and Microsoft don't tally these third-party operations in their overall emissions count. Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment. Meta declined to comment on the report, but a spokesperson said the company reports transparently on emissions and energy consumption, and pointed to a 2024 blog on its energy approach. Amazon said the report "mischaracterizes our data and makes inaccurate assumptions throughout - its own disclaimer even acknowledges NCI cannot guarantee its factual accuracy. "By contrast, we have a proven, independently audited, seven-year track record of transparently delivering facts that follow global reporting standards." It also called AI a transformative technology that is prompting energy demand to rise across industries and homes. The company listed a host of sustainability initiatives underway at Amazon, be it more efficient delivery routes, lower water use or eliminating plastic from packaging. "We're excited about what's ahead and will continue to share our progress openly," it said in a statement. NewClimate's report also flagged up a much broader concern, given how these companies undergird the wider digital economy, said Nick Dyer-Witheford, a professor of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario. He pointed to the role that Big Tech firms play worldwide "through digitally-targeted advertising, online shopping and influencer culture" which drives carbon-dioxide emissions. "It is the role of giant digital corporations in sustaining a global regime of ceaseless production and hyper-consumption that needs attention." AI In the United States, more than half of the 5,400 data centers operating in March ran on fossil fuels, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a U.S. think tank. Data center-driven energy demand rose by 12% from 2017 to 2024 and is expected to double again by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Furthermore, within three years almost half of that demand will be for AI data centers , which will then drive how utilities and grid operators have to respond, said Anurag K. Srivastava, a computer science professor at West Virginia University. That is because AI use is expected to fluctuate quickly and at scale, depending on the time of day or even as a particular meme or digital trend rocks the Internet, Srivastava said. "Gas is one (source of energy) that can ramp up and down quickly - you can't do that with nuclear or others," he said. "Solar can be done in the same way, but only if it's located there," he said, noting that large storage batteries could help. That raises the stakes for local communities, Srivastava said, with a gas-powered system that could handle such peaks and troughs coming at a high financial and environmental cost. Whatever the ramp-up in power looks like, it will unfold at unprecedented speed, said Srivastava, adding: "The rate of load change is probably one of the fastest we have seen."
The Star
27-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
AI data-centre boom could destroy Big Tech's net-zero plans
WASHINGTON: The fast-rising energy demands of Big Tech are undermining the ambitious climate pledges that Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have all made in recent years, according to a report from the nonprofit NewClimate Institute. The research says the tech sector faces a "climate strategy crisis" as its data centres demand ever more electricity and water to power growing fields, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. "These companies seem to have lost their way with regard to climate strategies," report co-author Thomas Day told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. "The narrative has changed from 'we're fixed on the target' to 'we're really not sure, but we'll get there somehow.'" The picture is further complicated, he said, by ongoing negotiations over how to count and report future emissions. Big Tech has pledged to fight climate change and says it is striving to be sustainable in all aspects of its business. Day though points to Microsoft, which in February described its sustainability goals – made in 2020 – as a "moonshot". It then noted: "We have had to acknowledge that the moon has gotten further away." The company's electricity demand has tripled since 2020, the report found, as it invested in giant warehouses that house the computer systems which let users store photos, stream music, talk with AI chatbots and more. Microsoft declined to comment. Data hubs The proliferation of data centres has leapt in recent years. North America housed fewer than 1,500 in 2014; by this year, the United States alone had more than 5,400, according to Statista. Their average size and power usage has also jumped. The world's biggest tech firms have nearly all pledged to reach net zero by as soon as 2030, but environmental campaigners are concerned their growing reliance on data centres will bust those ambitions by consuming ever more energy and water. With AI expected to use about 12% of US energy by the end of the decade, according to consultancy firm McKinsey, this could make it increasingly difficult for companies to transition from planet-heating fossil fuels to clean energy. Growing gap Based on publicly available information, the new report outlines massively increased emissions among the companies, alongside apparently minor changes in sustainability plans. Several of the plans, rather than resulting in net zero, appear to address only half of projected emissions, though NewClimate says hazy accounting makes the gap hard to pin down. While Meta's emissions have more than doubled since 2019, and Amazon's have nearly done so, Amazon's pledge to be net zero by 2040 "omits large portions of its business and remains unsubstantiated", relying on market-based solutions such as carbon credits to do the work. And while many of the companies contract out for a significant proportion of their business, using data centres they don't own, firms such as Meta and Microsoft don't tally these third-party operations in their overall emissions count. Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment. Meta declined to comment on the report, but a spokesperson said the company reports transparently on emissions and energy consumption, and pointed to a 2024 blog on its energy approach. Amazon said the report "mischaracterizes our data and makes inaccurate assumptions throughout – its own disclaimer even acknowledges NCI cannot guarantee its factual accuracy. "By contrast, we have a proven, independently audited, seven-year track record of transparently delivering facts that follow global reporting standards.' It also called AI a transformative technology that is prompting energy demand to rise across industries and homes. The company listed a host of sustainability initiatives underway at Amazon, be it more efficient delivery routes, lower water use or eliminating plastic from packaging. "We're excited about what's ahead and will continue to share our progress openly," it said in a statement. NewClimate's report also flagged up a much broader concern, given how these companies undergird the wider digital economy, said Nick Dyer-Witheford, a professor of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario. He pointed to the role that Big Tech firms play worldwide "through digitally-targeted advertising, online shopping and influencer culture" which drives carbon-dioxide emissions. "It is the role of giant digital corporations in sustaining a global regime of ceaseless production and hyper-consumption that needs attention." AI In the United States, more than half of the 5,400 data centres operating in March ran on fossil fuels, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a US think tank. Data centre-driven energy demand rose by 12% from 2017 to 2024 and is expected to double again by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Furthermore, within three years almost half of that demand will be for AI data centres, which will then drive how utilities and grid operators have to respond, said Anurag K. Srivastava, a computer science professor at West Virginia University. That is because AI use is expected to fluctuate quickly and at scale, depending on the time of day or even as a particular meme or digital trend rocks the Internet, Srivastava said. "Gas is one (source of energy) that can ramp up and down quickly – you can't do that with nuclear or others," he said. "Solar can be done in the same way, but only if it's located there," he said, noting that large storage batteries could help. That raises the stakes for local communities, Srivastava said, with a gas-powered system that could handle such peaks and troughs coming at a high financial and environmental cost. Whatever the ramp-up in power looks like, it will unfold at unprecedented speed, said Srivastava, adding: "The rate of load change is probably one of the fastest we have seen." – Thomson Reuters Foundation
The Independent
27-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Groundbreaking study shows AI pregnancy scans better than traditional sonograms
Artificial intelligence is being hailed as a potential game-changer in prenatal care, cutting down the time it takes to identify foetal abnormalities by almost half, according to a groundbreaking new study. Researchers at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust found as well as being faster, AI is just as accurate as traditional methods, offering the potential to revolutionise the 20-week scan. The technology, tested in the first trial of its kind, could significantly reduce scan times, easing anxiety for expectant parents and freeing up sonographers to focus on potential problem areas. Published in NEJM AI and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the study revealed AI scans were 42 per cent faster than standard scans. The key to the AI's speed and accuracy lies in its ability to take thousands of snapshots of each foetal measurement, compared to the three typically taken by a sonographer. The AI also proved more reliable than human sonographers in taking these crucial measurements. This improved accuracy offers the potential for earlier detection of potential issues, allowing medical professionals to intervene sooner if required. The AI tool was also found to alter the way in which the scan is performed, as sonographers no longer needed to pause, save images or measure during the scan. The trial focused on looking for heart problems but the researchers said the AI can help with looking for any abnormality. The new work included 78 pregnant women and 58 sonographers. Each pregnant woman was scanned twice, once using the AI-assisted scanner and once without the use of AI. Dr Thomas Day, lead author of the study, said: 'Understandably, this 20-week scan can be a nerve-wracking time for parents as they're finding out the health of their unborn child. 'Our research has shown that AI-assisted scans are accurate, reliable and more efficient. 'We hope that using AI in these scans will free up precious time for sonographers to focus on patient care, making the experience more comfortable and reassuring for parents.' Ashleigh Louison, a 36-year-old senior operations manager from northwest London, was one of those in the trial at St Thomas' Hospital. During her pregnancy, her son Lennox was diagnosed with heart disease. He needed lifesaving surgery within two weeks of his birth. She said: 'Receiving an early diagnosis for Lennox was really important as it meant we could properly plan the road ahead. 'We immediately knew that he would likely need open heart surgery and that we would be staying in hospital for a few weeks after his birth. 'This gave us the chance to physically and mentally prepare for what was coming. 'I am so glad to have participated in this trial as I want to support anything that can help save children's lives through faster and earlier diagnoses of conditions. 'I know that some conditions can be hard to spot and so I'm excited at the prospect of using new technology that can help address this. 'If my participation in this trial ends up helping even just one family, then I'm all for it.' The AI tool is now being rolled out more widely through a company called Fraiya – a University-NHS spinout company from King's College London, Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College Hospital. Experts are also planning a larger trial. Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR scientific director, said: 'The use of AI in healthcare has huge potential to impact patient care while saving time and money.'
