Amazon's planned Texas data center could become the largest climate polluter in the U.S., with an on-site natural gas plant permitted to release 33 million tons of CO2 per year. The report highlights growing environmental concerns around AI infrastructure and Amazon's carbon emissions, which rose 16% last year despite climate pledges.
As part of a planned Texas data center, Amazon is investing in an on-site power plant that could reportedly become the largest source of climate pollution in the United States.
# Planned Amazon data center could become the biggest climate polluter in the U.S. | TechCrunch
Source: [https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/08/planned-amazon-data-center-could-become-the-biggest-climate-polluter-in-the-u-s/](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/08/planned-amazon-data-center-could-become-the-biggest-climate-polluter-in-the-u-s/)
In Brief
Posted:
2:24 PM PDT · August 8, 2026
**Image Credits:**Thossaphol / Getty ImagesAs part of a planned data center in Pecos County, Texas, Amazon is investing in an on\-site power plant that could become the largest source of climate pollution in the United States,[according to The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/climate/amazon-data-center-texas-pollution.html?unlocked_article_code=1.31A.xzDh.F4qu7Zcw39Dj)\.
The NYT says the plant would burn natural gas and is permitted to release 33 million tons of carbon dioxide per year — more than any other power plant in the U\.S\.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the data center will “be powered by new on\-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families\.” \(Data centers[face growing political opposition](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/new-york-state-halts-construction-of-all-new-data-centers/)for a number of reasons, including their effect on electricity costs\.\)
AI has already had a significant impact on Amazon’s carbon emissions, which it[reported were up 16% last year](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/02/a-warning-sign-about-ais-real-cost-courtesy-of-google-and-amazon/)— the wrong direction for a company that pledged to eliminate its carbon emissions by 2040\. And that could get worse as Amazon and tech companies[back the development of huge natural gas plants](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/03/ai-companies-are-building-huge-natural-gas-plants-to-power-data-centers-what-could-go-wrong/)to support their power\-hungry data centers\.
The Amazon spokesperson said, “The world looks different now than when we co\-founded the climate pledge,” while also claiming, “Our commitment hasn’t changed\.”
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