Amazon’s new Texas AI data center will include massive amounts of air pollution

In 2019, Amazon signed the Climate Pledge, aiming to help Earth’s environmental health. In 2026, Amazon aims to set a record for the most air pollution emitted by a single power plant.

The New York Times reported that the company is building a new natural-gas-burning power plant in Pecos County, Texas, for a huge AI data center project. The plant, if built as planned, would emit approximately 33 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, making it among the largest emitters in the United States.

AI data centers are already known to have multiple huge downsides to their construction. Aside from their huge carbon emissions, they’re also known for generating massive amounts of noise pollution, and they can raise utility bills for nearby residents if they use the local electrical grid. Amazon’s new plant won’t necessarily do the last thing, as it’s providing its own power using natural gas, but the proposed carbon emissions would still be damaging to the environment.

Construction of the plant appears to be proceeding despite recent pushback from the Texas government on data centers. As for Amazon’s Climate Pledge, a spokesperson told the NYT that, simply put, things change over time.

“The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,” the spokesperson told the New York Times.