Gas plants for US data centers to be major source of climate change-linked emissions, report says [View all]

Source: Reuters

Dozens of planned gas plants to ​directly power data centers in the United States could emit as much greenhouse gas annually as ‌Australia or France, according to a report by an environmental group published on Wednesday.

The Environmental Integrity Project reviewed 74 gas-fired U.S. power plant projects proposed or planned to provide electricity directly to data centers, which would sidestep the process to connect to the ​U.S. electric grid. It estimated that they would generate 143 gigawatts of electricity and result in 662 ​million tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions.

Off-grid, or "behind the meter" power projects are ⁠winning rapid approval across the U.S., often under cover of secrecy, to supply the tech industry’s booming demand for ​powering data centers, according to a Reuters review of regulatory filings and interviews with public officials, residents, researchers and ​company executives.

By avoiding the federal regulations facing these large projects that seek interconnection to the electric grid, these are moving ahead at light speed — sometimes in just weeks or months — without the years of permitting, environmental studies and public hearings typically required for such ​plants. Developers argue such off-grid plants for private customers are exempt from many of these rules.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/gas-plants-us-data-centers-be-major-source-climate-change-linked-emissions-2026-07-01/