New gas-powered data centers could emit more greenhouse gases than nations

WIRED’s review of permitting documents finds that fewer than a dozen gas-fired power plants being built to supply data centers for OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and xAI could collectively emit over 129 million tonnes of CO2e per year. The reporting calls out specific projects, notably xAI’s gas turbines at the Colossus 1 campus in Memphis, and shows how behind-the-meter fossil generation for AI infrastructure can undercut tech companies’ carbon-reduction pledges.