2025 Year in Review: Sustainability

With tech relentlessly advancing, companies’ priorities are shifting, and sustainability is entering a more conflicted phase. Ambitions are now increasingly colliding with reality. As artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure drive unprecedented growth in computing demand, the environmental costs of keeping digital systems online are becoming impossible to ignore. Energy, water, and carbon are no longer abstract metrics, but operational constraints shaping strategic decisions.

In 2025, this tension is evident across the industry. Nuclear power is re-emerging as a serious option for data-hungry data centers, AI’s water footprint is drawing growing scrutiny, and once-bold climate commitments are quietly being softened or postponed. Together, these developments reveal how sustainability is being renegotiated in an era defined by acceleration rather than restraint.

Tech Goes Nuclear

Addressing the rising energy demands of data centers and the limitations of current power grids, big tech companies are exploring alternative options, with nuclear energy being a popular choice for some. The good news is that nuclear energy is a reliable and clean source of energy. Apart from the initial construction, it is essentially carbon neutral.

Meta recently signed a 20-year agreement with Constellation Energy to secure electricity from a nuclear plant in Illinois. Google is collaborating with Kairos Power on advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) to provide its U.S. data centers with reliable, carbon-free power. Microsoft, Amazon, and many others are also investing billions to revive the nuclear energy industry.

AI Is Thirsty

While the water use of AI models varies greatly, it is real and continues to increase. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman states that one query for ChatGPT uses only 1/15 of a teaspoon of water. Studies suggest the amount is often much higher, with some estimating that a typical conversation could consume up to half a liter of water.

AI uses water for both cooling and energy generation purposes. The problem is that many data centers are located in water-stressed areas. Critics highlight that AI consumes billions of liters of fresh water each year, competing with local communities for a limited resource. 

Green Agenda on Hold

Rewinding to just a few years ago, sustainability was the name of the game for nearly every tech company. Most had very ambitious sustainability and zero-carbon goals with impending deadlines. However, today, sustainability is no longer a top priority, as many companies are retreating from their previous commitments.

As AI remains the main focus, a growth-at-any-cost mindset has taken over the industry. Many companies are becoming energy-agnostic, accepting fossil fuels they previously rejected. Some even use small, highly polluting gas turbines to power their infrastructure while waiting for the grid to catch up.