- Investors demand more details on ESG reporting ahead of this year’s Annual General Meetings
- North American data centers consumed 1 trillion liters of water in 2025
- Current reports and targets are too vague, they argue
More than a dozen investors are said to be increasing pressure on some of the biggest names in technology to disclose detailed data center water and energy usage ahead of annual shareholder meetings.
New PakGazette Reports claim that the crux of the lawsuits is for companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google to offer site-level transparency rather than high-level metrics to provide a better view of the environmental effects of their data centers.
This comes amid growing concern about the impact of AI on local communities and the environment: North American data centers alone are said to have consumed around one trillion liters of water by 2025.
Article continues below.
Investors want more detailed data center sustainability reports
With fears that data centers could overwhelm local water supplies and power grids, many large projects have already been cancelled, delayed or relocated due to local opposition, leaving investors demanding not only more detailed impact metrics but also long-term strategies.
At the moment, there are a number of gaps in the reporting: Google does not include third-party data centers in its reports, and Amazon reports water use relative to energy, rather than total consumption. Microsoft also lacks site-level water usage data.
As for each of the three companies, their broader long-term strategies point to positive results, but specific progress is more cryptic in ESG reports. Most are targeting 2030 as their deadline to be water positive or carbon neutral, while many have already reached 100% renewable energy to varying degrees.
As for where investor demands leave data center operators in the meantime, it’s clear that there is a growing expectation for companies to demonstrate that AI growth will not come at the expense of local communities and the environment.
In the future, standardized environmental reporting could be introduced for more granular details, ultimately incentivizing hyperscalers to be even more efficient.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
