Amsterdam, Netherlands — NVIDIA, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalisation, has been using greenwashing tricks to misleadingly mask its staggering emissions impacts, finds a new analysis. According to the briefing, NVIDIA’s indirect emissions have risen 725% since 2020[1], and it is estimated that undisclosed emissions from the use of sold chips could be up to double that.

Avex Li, Project Lead for Greenpeace East Asia’s AI Supply Chain Campaign, said:

“NVIDIA wants the world to believe that AI will solve the climate crisis, while ignoring the rapidly growing emissions behind its own products and billion-dollar supply chain networks. As one of the world’s biggest beneficiaries and a key player in the AI frenzy, with immense market power, cash flow, and influence, NVIDIA cannot distance itself from the real-world environmental impacts of its business.”

The briefing, written by analyst and lead author Ketan Joshi and a consortium of civil society groups, including Greenpeace International, Beyond Fossil Fuels, Friends of the Earth, Green Screen Coalition, Stand.Earth, Kairos Fellowship, and Climate Action Against Disinformation, is the first analysis of greenwashing-style statements commonly used by NVIDIA.[2] 

NVIDIA’s business lies primarily in chips manufactured in East Asia and sold across the world, consuming vast amounts of energy throughout their lifecycle[3]. At the end of the line, they are largely used in new, similarly energy- and water-hungry data centre buildings, mainly for the purpose of operating generative AI[4]. Both pillars of this business model share a common outcome: they exacerbate the climate crisis and adversely affect local communities[5]. 

Xueying Wu, campaigner on Big Tech for Greenpeace International, added:
“NVIDIA is driving a system of tech colonialism: monopolising the profits of AI while offloading its ecological impacts onto the Global Majority. Meanwhile, NVIDIA together with other tech giants is inflating the AI bubble that gambles with global financial stability, concentrating more and more power in tech corporations’ hands.”

Greenpeace demands tech serving the public good.More specifically, NVIDIA must accelerate the energy transition by:

• investing deeply in new/additional renewable energy globally 
• expanding its 100% renewable energy target from its own corporate operations to cover its entire manufacturing supply chain by 2030, in places like Taiwan in East Asia

ENDS

NVIDIA’s climate hoax : Full Report 

Notes:

[1] The briefing compiles NVIDIA’s own disclosures between 2020 and 2026 to show for the first time that its Scope 3 emissions, primarily from product manufacturing, have risen 725% over that period. It also uses estimated chip power consumption to show emissions from the use of sold chips could be up to 21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025. ‘Scope 3’ emissions (Category 1-8) relate to measured greenhouse gas impacts outside the formal boundaries of the company’s activities, such as the emissions from manufacturing raw materials used in manufacturing, or the use of products sold by a company.

[2] NVIDIA distracts from these emissions using three key claims. First, they claim AI’s development will be a ‘net benefit’ for climate. Second, they claim demand response for data centres enables renewable growth. And third, they herald energy efficiency as progress on sustainability. We debunk all three claims as misleading. NVIDIA recently announced exclusive supply to an Ohio data centre in the US reportedly set to be powered by what would be one of the world’s biggest gas plants. This is an illustration that the company is projected to accelerate the global climate crisis through its enablement of the fossil-fuelled AI boom.

[3] According to Greenpeace East Asia’s research, titled “Nvidia’s Green Illusion”, NVIDIA shifts its environmental footprint onto East Asian key suppliers reliant on fossil fuels without directly investing in local renewable energy infrastructure.

[4] This NVIDIA press release marking its Q2 FY27 financial results demonstrates that the data center segment, driven entirely by demand for generative AI hardware, accounts for 92.5% of its revenue.

[5] Based on a United Nations University study, this UN News article reveals how the expansion of AI drives environmental injustice by saddling local communities and lower-income nations with severe ecological burdens—including water depletion, energy strain, land use, e-waste, and mining pollution—while its benefits remain heavily concentrated in a few wealthy nations.

Contacts:

Guillaumine Lickel, Deputy Communications Lead , Greenpeace International, +33 6-73-89-48-90 (EMEA), glickel@greenpeace.org

Madison Carter, National Press Secretary, Greenpeace USA, +1 703-554-4842 (Americas), mcarter@greenpeace.org

Yujie Xue, International Communications Officer, Greenpeace East Asia,(APAC) +852 51273416 (APAC), yujie.xue@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

NVIDIA markets artificial intelligence as a climate saviour, but new research by Greenpeace International and a consortium of civil society partners reveals a starkly different reality. Behind the tech giant’s sustainability messaging lies a staggering carbon footprint: NVIDIA’s indirect Scope 3 emissions have surged by 725% since 2020. Furthermore, undisclosed emissions from operating sold chips could add up to 21 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025.

The briefing debunks three core greenwashing tactics used by NVIDIA: claiming AI yields a net climate benefit, promoting data center demand response as a renewable driver, and masking skyrocketing energy consumption behind efficiency gains. Far from driving a clean energy transition, NVIDIA hardware powers energy-hungry data centers, such as a proposed Ohio facility backed by one of the world’s largest gas plants.

Because NVIDIA relies on East Asian manufacturing supply chains heavily reliant on fossil fuels, it effectively offloads its ecological burden onto lower-income nations while concentrating AI wealth. This pattern reflects a system of tech colonialism that accelerates environmental injustice through energy strain, water depletion, and land degradation.

To address its climate impact, NVIDIA must stop relying on greenwashing illusions. Greenpeace demands that NVIDIA take direct responsibility by investing deeply in new renewable energy global capacity and expanding its 100% renewable energy target across its entire manufacturing supply chain by 2030.

Download the report:

NVIDIA’s AI climate hoax: New analysis on NVIDIA’s rising emissions and greenwashing

About the author

Ketan Joshi is an analyst, writer and communicator specialising in clean energy, corporate accountability and climate advocacy. He has worked with government renewable energy agencies, research bodies including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, and is the author of Windfall: unlocking a fossil free future. He was lead author on The AI Climate Hoax (2026) and Energy Vampires (2026, Greenpeace Australia Pacific).

Partner organisations

This research was published in collaboration with a coalition of climate, tech and accountability organisations: Kairos Fellowship, Stand.earth, Beyond Fossil Fuels, Friends of the Earth, Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD), Green Screen Coalition and the Green Web Foundation.