Report claims AI boom could keep Australia using coal and gas for longer

The artificial intelligence boom requires power-hungry data centres. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens) A new report has concluded the AI-fuelled surge of power-hungry data centres across Australia is jeopardising the country's energy transition. Analysis commissioned by Greenpeace says the unforeseen growth in electricity demand to feed the AI boom is even bigger than what it is taking to electrify our cars and houses. Independent analysts say this sudden demand for energy could mean Australia needs to rely on more expensive, polluting energy sources to fill the gap. Link copiedShareShare articleData centres powering the artificial intelligence boom could demand more new electricity over the coming 15 years than Australia's cars or homes, according to a Greenpeace report that warns the sudden and unprecedented growth threatens the country's transition to renewable energy. The report used government projections, suggesting that data centres' demand for energy will increase more than sixfold from 2024-25 to 2040, surging from 2 to 13 per cent of the country's total energy use. It comes as a major electricity network provider warns it already does not have enough capacity to power every data centre currently in the planning pipeline. Analysis commissioned by Greenpeace Australia Pacific said the current and projected energy use from a new wave of large, power-hungry data centres added to the challenge of climate policies aimed at closing coal-fired power stations and building enough renewable energy to replace them. Know more about Australia's AI data centre build-out? Email Cameron Wilson on wilson.cameron@abc.net.au or his secure email cmwlsn@protonmail.com. The report said the increase was being driven in large part by artificial intelligence, which required large amounts of computing power to train and run systems such as chatbots, image generators and coding assistants. The environmental group called for a moratorium on new data centres until governments legislated transparency measures and safeguards around the use of electricity, water and emissions. The report's author Ketan Joshi said that Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) figures showed data centres could account for 13 per cent of total national electricity demand in 2040 under a high-growth scenario. Australian Energy Market Operator figures show data centres could account for 13 per cent of total national electricity demand in 2040. (Reuters: Ali Withers) The report said AEMO's projected demand from data centres in 2040 increased more than fivefold between its 2024 report and its 2025 report. Greenpeace said that would put data centre demand at the same level or greater than the energy needed for electrification of cars, homes and potentially businesses. The report said the projections of the scale of the data centre build-out were backed up by economic data showing an acceleration in data centre-related spending. It cited Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing spending grew more than 60 per cent in the September 2025 quarter, reaching $2.6 billion — an increase of more than 140 per cent on the previous year. An aerial shot of the site proposed for a data centre in Kemps Creek. (Supplied) One proposed data centre in western Sydney — the Mamre Road Data Centre Campus at Kemps Creek — would result in 1.3 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions in 2032, according to its environmental impact statement, the Greenpeace report said. Mr Joshi said this was about the same as the greenhouse gas emissions of all domestic flights within NSW in 2023. Greenpeace said this presented a risk that the large energy demands of data centres would arrive faster than renewable energy, storage and transmission could be built. "From a standing start, billions of dollars are now pouring into a massive pipeline of proposed new data centres, of unprecedented size, being built at incredible speed in our suburbs," Greenpeace's head of climate and energy Joe Rafalowicz said. When that happens, the report said, coal and gas generators may need to run for longer or harder to fill the gap. Greenpeace said Australia should require new data centres to source power from new renewable projects, disclose their energy use and emissions, and be subject to stronger approval rules. University of New South Wales senior research associate Dylan McConnell said the analysis captured the scale and speed of demand from new data centres. Energy providers typically work on longer time frames, with power agreements and new project construction typically spanning several years. Prior to the data centre boom of the last few years, increases in energy demand were "modest", Dr McConnell said. "If you go back even two years, none of this was forecast," he said. Dylan McConnell says the analysis captures the scale and speed of demand. (Supplied: Dylan McConnell) The generative AI boom sparked by the release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 has led to en

Report claims AI boom could keep Australia using coal and gas for longer

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