{"id":47029,"topic":"ai","source":"Forbes","title":"Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact - Forbes","url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","url_hash":"73d7df8c93c33eeca1ea9e87abb38df4be784adf","author":"","summary":"Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact Forbes","content":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers.\nThe company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News. The initiative was floated by non-profit outfit The Climate Group founded by former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair.\nDespite Meta’s exit, its other big tech rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft remain among the initiative’s 400-plus signatories. Another rival Amazon is not RE100 member. While confirming the \"amicable\" move, a Meta spokesperson declined further comment.\nRenewables Can’t Keep Pace\nThe company needs reliable power sources for data centers at the heart of its artificial intelligence development and expansion plans.\nWhile Meta’s renewable energy partnerships for wind and solar energy continue, it is also turning to natural gas-fired power sources in the U.S. as renewables simply cannot keep pace with its near-term demand projections.\nRecent overtures include Meta’s backing of ten such power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, following on from a 200 megawatt facility in Ohio that it backed in June 2025.\nAnd the tech giant is not alone in turning to natural gas. Both Google and Microsoft have also invested in power sourced from fossil fuels. However, Meta’s moves dwarf its rivals in wattage terms.\nAs AI development morphs into a multibillion dollar industry, deployments accelerate, and the hyperscale data centers needed for the activity continue to grow exponentially, the tension between 'Big Tech’ headline growth and clean energy commitments continues to grow too.\nEnd Of Decade Scenarios\nMany tech firms have inked long-term power purchase agreements with utilities and suppliers. These contracts are underpinned by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.\nBut with power demand for data centers tipped to grow between 10% and 15% per year between now and 2030, if not more, as noted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, additional power sourced from natural gas-fired plants is increasingly coming into view both within the U.S. and elsewhere.\nMeta’s predicament and response offer a true case in point. In the company’s 2025 sustainability report, Meta said it will continue matching 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy.\nTill date, Meta-supported wind and solar projects total up to nearly 30GW in the U.S. and global markets it operates in. Yet, with the AI sphere witnessing a bit of a super-cycle of sorts, and all of us living in a world where a a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9Wh of electricity, compared with 0.3Wh for a routine Google search (nearly ten times as much) - Meta and its competitors are reactively doing what they need to as energy hungry businesses.\nAnd its not just natural gas, even coal could be a beneficiary, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris, France-based think-tank recently forecast that demand from data centres remains a significant near-term driver of growth for natural gas-fired and coal-fired generation, through both higher utilization of existing assets and new power plants.\nNatural gas and coal together are expected to meet over 40% of the additional electricity demand from data centres until 2030, it added. In such a scenario that is appearing highly likely, many clean energy pacts and pledges may well be broken by major tech brands out of necessity.","image_url":"https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/6a664814ca0d4efd173d0416/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&height=900&width=1600&fit=bounds","lang":"en","published_at":"2026-07-27T10:04:44+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-07-27T10:15:05+00:00","status":"read","starred":0,"extract_state":"ok","summary_auto":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers. 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The initiative was floated by non-profit outfit The Climate Group founded by former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair.\nDespite Meta’s exit, its other big tech rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft remain among the initiative’s 400-plus signatories. Another rival Amazon is not RE100 member. While confirming the \"amicable\" move, a Meta spokesperson declined further comment.\nRenewables Can’t Keep Pace\nThe company needs reliable power sources for data centers at the heart of its artificial intelligence development and expansion plans.\nWhile Meta’s renewable energy partnerships for wind and solar energy continue, it is also turning to natural gas-fired power sources in the U.S. as renewables simply cannot keep pace with its near-term demand projections.\nRecent overtures include Meta’s backing of ten such power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, following on from a 200 megawatt facility in Ohio that it backed in June 2025.\nAnd the tech giant is not alone in turning to natural gas. Both Google and Microsoft have also invested in power sourced from fossil fuels. However, Meta’s moves dwarf its rivals in wattage terms.\nAs AI development morphs into a multibillion dollar industry, deployments accelerate, and the hyperscale data centers needed for the activity continue to grow exponentially, the tension between 'Big Tech’ headline growth and clean energy commitments continues to grow too.\nEnd Of Decade Scenarios\nMany tech firms have inked long-term power purchase agreements with utilities and suppliers. These contracts are underpinned by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.\nBut with power demand for data centers tipped to grow between 10% and 15% per year between now and 2030, if not more, as noted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, additional power sourced from natural gas-fired plants is increasingly coming into view both within the U.S. and elsewhere.\nMeta’s predicament and response offer a true case in point. In the company’s 2025 sustainability report, Meta said it will continue matching 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy.\nTill date, Meta-supported wind and solar projects total up to nearly 30GW in the U.S. and global markets it operates in. Yet, with the AI sphere witnessing a bit of a super-cycle of sorts, and all of us living in a world where a a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9Wh of electricity, compared with 0.3Wh for a routine Google search (nearly ten times as much) - Meta and its competitors are reactively doing what they need to as energy hungry businesses.\nAnd its not just natural gas, even coal could be a beneficiary, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris, France-based think-tank recently forecast that demand from data centres remains a significant near-term driver of growth for natural gas-fired and coal-fired generation, through both higher utilization of existing assets and new power plants.\nNatural gas and coal together are expected to meet over 40% of the additional electricity demand from data centres until 2030, it added. In such a scenario that is appearing highly likely, many clean energy pacts and pledges may well be broken by major tech brands out of necessity.","excerpt":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers. The company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News.","extraction":{"state":"ok","confidence":0.9,"error":null,"explanation":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 3589 characters.","diagnostics_url":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 3589 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":3589,"summary_length":356,"usable_text_length":3589,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":3589,"summary_length":356}}},"display_formats":["compact","card","full","digest_section","json"]},"daily_stack_record":{"title":"Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact - Forbes","url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","summary":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers. The company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News.","source":"Forbes","date":"2026-07-27T10:04:44+00:00","content":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers.\nThe company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News. The initiative was floated by non-profit outfit The Climate Group founded by former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair.\nDespite Meta’s exit, its other big tech rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft remain among the initiative’s 400-plus signatories. Another rival Amazon is not RE100 member. While confirming the \"amicable\" move, a Meta spokesperson declined further comment.\nRenewables Can’t Keep Pace\nThe company needs reliable power sources for data centers at the heart of its artificial intelligence development and expansion plans.\nWhile Meta’s renewable energy partnerships for wind and solar energy continue, it is also turning to natural gas-fired power sources in the U.S. as renewables simply cannot keep pace with its near-term demand projections.\nRecent overtures include Meta’s backing of ten such power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, following on from a 200 megawatt facility in Ohio that it backed in June 2025.\nAnd the tech giant is not alone in turning to natural gas. Both Google and Microsoft have also invested in power sourced from fossil fuels. However, Meta’s moves dwarf its rivals in wattage terms.\nAs AI development morphs into a multibillion dollar industry, deployments accelerate, and the hyperscale data centers needed for the activity continue to grow exponentially, the tension between 'Big Tech’ headline growth and clean energy commitments continues to grow too.\nEnd Of Decade Scenarios\nMany tech firms have inked long-term power purchase agreements with utilities and suppliers. These contracts are underpinned by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.\nBut with power demand for data centers tipped to grow between 10% and 15% per year between now and 2030, if not more, as noted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, additional power sourced from natural gas-fired plants is increasingly coming into view both within the U.S. and elsewhere.\nMeta’s predicament and response offer a true case in point. In the company’s 2025 sustainability report, Meta said it will continue matching 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy.\nTill date, Meta-supported wind and solar projects total up to nearly 30GW in the U.S. and global markets it operates in. Yet, with the AI sphere witnessing a bit of a super-cycle of sorts, and all of us living in a world where a a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9Wh of electricity, compared with 0.3Wh for a routine Google search (nearly ten times as much) - Meta and its competitors are reactively doing what they need to as energy hungry businesses.\nAnd its not just natural gas, even coal could be a beneficiary, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris, France-based think-tank recently forecast that demand from data centres remains a significant near-term driver of growth for natural gas-fired and coal-fired generation, through both higher utilization of existing assets and new power plants.\nNatural gas and coal together are expected to meet over 40% of the additional electricity demand from data centres until 2030, it added. 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While confirming the \"amicable\" move, a Meta spokesperson declined further comment.\nRenewables Can’t Keep Pace\nThe company needs reliable power sources for data centers at the heart of its artificial intelligence development and expansion plans.\nWhile Meta’s renewable energy partnerships for wind and solar energy continue, it is also turning to natural gas-fired power sources in the U.S. as renewables simply cannot keep pace with its near-term demand projections.\nRecent overtures include Meta’s backing of ten such power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, following on from a 200 megawatt facility in Ohio that it backed in June 2025.\nAnd the tech giant is not alone in turning to natural gas. Both Google and Microsoft have also invested in power sourced from fossil fuels. However, Meta’s moves dwarf its rivals in wattage terms.\nAs AI development morphs into a multibillion dollar industry, deployments accelerate, and the hyperscale data centers needed for the activity continue to grow exponentially, the tension between 'Big Tech’ headline growth and clean energy commitments continues to grow too.\nEnd Of Decade Scenarios\nMany tech firms have inked long-term power purchase agreements with utilities and suppliers. These contracts are underpinned by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.\nBut with power demand for data centers tipped to grow between 10% and 15% per year between now and 2030, if not more, as noted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, additional power sourced from natural gas-fired plants is increasingly coming into view both within the U.S. and elsewhere.\nMeta’s predicament and response offer a true case in point. In the company’s 2025 sustainability report, Meta said it will continue matching 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy.\nTill date, Meta-supported wind and solar projects total up to nearly 30GW in the U.S. and global markets it operates in. Yet, with the AI sphere witnessing a bit of a super-cycle of sorts, and all of us living in a world where a a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9Wh of electricity, compared with 0.3Wh for a routine Google search (nearly ten times as much) - Meta and its competitors are reactively doing what they need to as energy hungry businesses.\nAnd its not just natural gas, even coal could be a beneficiary, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris, France-based think-tank recently forecast that demand from data centres remains a significant near-term driver of growth for natural gas-fired and coal-fired generation, through both higher utilization of existing assets and new power plants.\nNatural gas and coal together are expected to meet over 40% of the additional electricity demand from data centres until 2030, it added. In such a scenario that is appearing highly likely, many clean energy pacts and pledges may well be broken by major tech brands out of necessity.","reading_time_min":3,"extraction":{"state":"ok","confidence":0.9,"error":null,"explanation":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 3589 characters.","diagnostics_url":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 3589 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":3589,"summary_length":356,"usable_text_length":3589,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":3589,"summary_length":356}}},"quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 3589 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":3589,"summary_length":356,"usable_text_length":3589,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":3589,"summary_length":356}},"actions":{"read":"/item/47029","export_markdown":"/api/items/47029/export?format=markdown","export_json":"/api/items/47029/export?format=json","diagnose":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/"}},"digest":{"id":47029,"title":"Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact - Forbes","url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","source":"Forbes","topic":"ai","published_at":"2026-07-27T10:04:44+00:00","excerpt":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers. The company’s exit from the RE100 - a…","quality_bucket":"high","quality_reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 3589 characters.","reading_time_min":3,"cluster_id":null},"card":{"display_title":"Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact - Forbes","subtitle":"Forbes · 2026-07-27","summary":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale…","badges":["quality:high"],"links":{"read":"/item/47029","original":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","diagnose":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/"},"quality_warning":null},"export":{"title":"Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact - Forbes","url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2026/07/27/natural-gas-powered-ai-push-sees-meta-retreat-from-clean-energy-pact/","summary":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers. The company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News.","source":"Forbes","date":"2026-07-27T10:04:44+00:00","content":"Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers.\nThe company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News. The initiative was floated by non-profit outfit The Climate Group founded by former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair.\nDespite Meta’s exit, its other big tech rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft remain among the initiative’s 400-plus signatories. Another rival Amazon is not RE100 member. While confirming the \"amicable\" move, a Meta spokesperson declined further comment.\nRenewables Can’t Keep Pace\nThe company needs reliable power sources for data centers at the heart of its artificial intelligence development and expansion plans.\nWhile Meta’s renewable energy partnerships for wind and solar energy continue, it is also turning to natural gas-fired power sources in the U.S. as renewables simply cannot keep pace with its near-term demand projections.\nRecent overtures include Meta’s backing of ten such power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, following on from a 200 megawatt facility in Ohio that it backed in June 2025.\nAnd the tech giant is not alone in turning to natural gas. Both Google and Microsoft have also invested in power sourced from fossil fuels. However, Meta’s moves dwarf its rivals in wattage terms.\nAs AI development morphs into a multibillion dollar industry, deployments accelerate, and the hyperscale data centers needed for the activity continue to grow exponentially, the tension between 'Big Tech’ headline growth and clean energy commitments continues to grow too.\nEnd Of Decade Scenarios\nMany tech firms have inked long-term power purchase agreements with utilities and suppliers. These contracts are underpinned by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.\nBut with power demand for data centers tipped to grow between 10% and 15% per year between now and 2030, if not more, as noted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, additional power sourced from natural gas-fired plants is increasingly coming into view both within the U.S. and elsewhere.\nMeta’s predicament and response offer a true case in point. In the company’s 2025 sustainability report, Meta said it will continue matching 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy.\nTill date, Meta-supported wind and solar projects total up to nearly 30GW in the U.S. and global markets it operates in. Yet, with the AI sphere witnessing a bit of a super-cycle of sorts, and all of us living in a world where a a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9Wh of electricity, compared with 0.3Wh for a routine Google search (nearly ten times as much) - Meta and its competitors are reactively doing what they need to as energy hungry businesses.\nAnd its not just natural gas, even coal could be a beneficiary, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris, France-based think-tank recently forecast that demand from data centres remains a significant near-term driver of growth for natural gas-fired and coal-fired generation, through both higher utilization of existing assets and new power plants.\nNatural gas and coal together are expected to meet over 40% of the additional electricity demand from data centres until 2030, it added. 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