30/06/2025

LYFE MONDAY | JUNE 30, 2025

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Unattainable targets?

Living building material that can absorb carbon

T HE credibility of climate pledges by the world’s tech giants to rapidly become carbon neutral is fading fast as they devour more and more energy in the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and build data centres, researchers warned Thursday. Apple, Google and Meta said they would stop adding carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere by 2030, while Amazon set that target for 2040. Microsoft promised to be “net negative” – pulling CO2 out of the air – by the end of this decade. But those vows, made before the AI boom transformed the sector, are starting to look like a fantasy even as these companies have doubled down on them, according to independent analysts. “The greenhouse gas emissions targets of tech companies appear to have lost their meaning. “If energy consumption continues to rise unchecked and without adequate oversight, these targets will likely be unachievable,” said Thomas Hay, lead author of a report by think tanks Carbon Market Watch and NewClimate Institute. The deep-dive analysis found the overall integrity of the climate strategies at Meta, Microsoft and Amazon to be “poor”, while Apple’s and Google’s were deemed “moderate”. When it came to the quality of o Tech giants’ net zero goals verging on fantasy: Researchers

SCIENTISTS at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH Zurich) are working on designing a living material capable of sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2). Made up of photosynthetic microorganisms, the substance could one day be used as a building material in construction. Bacteria, algae and fungi are the components of an innovative material being developed by students at ETH Zurich. The goal is to create living materials capable of capturing atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis. The preliminary results of this research are detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications . In it, the researchers explain how photosynthetic bacteria (known as cyanobacteria) are stably incorporated into the material in question. In concrete terms, this involves manufacturing a 3D-printable hydrogel. According to the project leaders, the absorbed CO2, artificial seawater and sunlight are sufficient to nourish this material. Moreover, through photosynthesis, the bacteria modify their chemical environment outside the cell, causing solid carbonates (such as lime) to precipitate. “The material can store carbon not only in biomass, but also in the form of minerals – a special property of these cyanobacteria,” explained Mark Tibbitt, professor of

macromolecular engineering at ETH Zurich, who led the research, quoted in a statement. These minerals represent an additional carbon sink which, unlike biomass, stores CO2 in a more stable form. Laboratory tests have shown that the material continuously binds CO2 over a period of 400 days, mostly in mineral form, at a rate of 26mg of CO2 per gram of material. According to the authors of this study, this is “comparable to the chemical mineralisation of recycled concrete” (7mg of CO2 per gram). The researchers hope that, in the long term, this material can be used in building construction to directly capture and store CO2. The scientists’ creation recently left the laboratory in the form of two objects resembling tree trunks, the largest measuring 3m high. “Thanks to the cyanobacteria, these can each bind up to 18kg of CO2 per year – about as much as a 20-year-old pine tree in the temperate zone,” the researchers explained. These prototypes are being presented at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which runs until Nov 23. Another installation of the material is on display at the Triennale di Milano until Nov 9, as part of an exhibition titled “We the Bacteria: Notes Toward Biotic Architecture”, which traces the history of microbial diversity and focuses on new ways of living with microbes. – ETX Studio

Apple, Google and Meta say they would stop adding CO2 into the atmosphere by 2030, while Amazon set that target for 2040. – AFPPIC

emissions reduction targets, those of Meta and Amazon were judged “very poor”, while Google and Microsoft scored a “poor” rating. Only Apple fared better. The expanding carbon footprint of the five top tech behemoths stems mostly from the breakneck expansion of AI, which requires huge amounts of energy to develop and run. Electricity consumption – and the carbon emissions that come with it – has doubled for some of these companies in the last three or four years, and tripled for others, the report found. The same is true across the sector: operational emissions of the world’s top 200 information technology companies was nearly 300 million tonnes of CO2 in 2023, and nearly five times that if the downstream use products and services is taken into account, according to the UN’s International Telecommunications Union. If the sector were a country, it would rank fifth in greenhouse gas emissions ahead of Brazil. Electricity to power data centres increased on average 12% per year from 2017 to 2024, and is projected to double by 2030, according to the IEA. If all this extra power came from solar and wind, CO2 emissions would not be rising. But despite ambitious plans to source their energy from renewables, much of it is still not carbon neutral. Studies estimate that half of the computing capacity of tech companies’ data centres comes from subcontractors, yet many companies do not account for these emissions, the study pointed out. The same is true for the entire infrastructure and equipment supply chain, which accounts for at least a third of tech companies’ carbon footprint.

Ensuring that data centres are run on renewable electricity generated from solar and wind is crucial. “There is a lot of investment in renewable energy, but overall, it has not offset the sector’s thirst for electricity,” Day said. Given the status of AI as a driver of economic growth, and even as a vector for industrial policy, it is unlikely that governments are going to constrain the sector’s expansion, the report noted. “So far, the whole AI boom has been altogether quite unregulated. “There are things these companies can and will do for future proofing, to make sure they are moving in the right direction (in relation to climate goals). “But when it comes to decisions that would essentially constrain the growth of the business model, we do not see any indications that that can happen without regulatory action,” Day said. The report identifies a number of ways in which the tech sector can curb its carbon footprint, even as it develops AI apace. Ensuring that data centres – those belonging to the companies as well as third party partners – run on renewable electricity is crucial. Increasing the lifespan of devices and expanding the use of recycled components for hardware production could also make a big difference. Finally, the methods used for calculating emissions reduction targets are out-of-date and in need of revision, the report said. – AFP

Tech giants’ race to develop AI is having massive impact on energy consumption and climate change.

Increasing the lifespan of devices and expanding the use of recycled components could make a big difference. – PICS FROM PEXELS

Bacteria, algae and fungi are the components of an innovative material being developed by students at ETH Zurich. – PIC FROM ETH ZURICH