Accelerating Disclosure with Carbon Guidance

A Case Study on the AI Buildout

Over their 2025 and 2026 fiscal years, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle (the Hyper 5) are on track to spend over $1 trillion on the AI buildout. If current reporting pace is maintained, the carbon from those investments won't be disclosed until long after the next round of budgets is committed, likely late 2027.

This report sets out a framework for carbon guidance with the goal of initiating the practice among the teams capable of delivering it. Where it is not yet available, we provide independent external forecasts. We forecast the Hyper 5's footprint will rise 57% on 2025, driven by emissions from electricity and capital goods, and provide deep dives on each hyperscaler to show where each is likely to land.

Author Jimmy Gillan, PhD

Disclosures and inputs current through 22 September 2026.