{"id":68641,"date":"2026-02-26T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/?p=68641"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:45:20","slug":"greenpeace-to-nvidia-an-ai-industrial-revolution-cannot-be-powered-by-19th-century-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/press\/68641\/greenpeace-to-nvidia-an-ai-industrial-revolution-cannot-be-powered-by-19th-century-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace to Nvidia: An \u201cAI Industrial Revolution\u201d Cannot Be Powered by 19th-Century Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>HONG KONG \u2014 As Nvidia, the world&#8217;s most valuable company, announces a staggering annual revenue of US$215.9 billion [1], Greenpeace East Asia raises concerns that CEO Jensen Huang\u2019s vision for an &#8220;AI industrial revolution&#8221; is built on outdated energy sources.<\/p>\n\n<p>While Nvidia\u2019s US$68.1 billion fourth-quarter revenue showcases record growth in the company\u2019s history, its lack of concrete climate action and rising supply chain emissions have been overlooked by stakeholders. Despite the &#8220;agentic AI inflection point&#8221; emphasized by Huang during the company earnings call, Greenpeace East Asia has found that Nvidia continues to outsource its carbon footprint to fossil fuel-dependent manufacturing hubs in Taiwan and South Korea without any direct investment [2] in renewable energy projects on the ground.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;<em>Jensen Huang claims that the &#8216;AI industrial revolution&#8217; is upon us, yet we can&#8217;t rely on 19th-century energy sources for this transformation,<\/em>&#8221; said <strong>Katrin Wu, Supply Chain Project Lead at Greenpeace East Asia<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n<p>\u201c<em>If the company has the financial resources to support rapid AI expansion, it can also invest in more renewable energy on the ground and contribute to the region\u2019s energy transition.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Despite branding its chips as &#8220;energy efficient,&#8221; Nvidia&#8217;s rapid growth is leading to a significant increase in global emissions, Greenpeace East Asia found:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The &#8220;F&#8221; Grade<\/strong>: In Greenpeace East Asia\u2019s latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/press\/68382\/nvidia-ranks-last-on-ai-supply-chain-decarbonization-greenpeace-report-finds\/\">Supply Change report<\/a>, Nvidia received an \u201cF\u201d for its efforts in supply chain decarbonization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Skyrocketing Emissions<\/strong>: Scope 3 emissions\u2014accounting for about 90% of Nvidia&#8217;s total carbon footprint\u2014have nearly doubled [3] from 2022 to 2025.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Supply Chain Gap<\/strong>: While Nvidia&#8217;s customers race to invest in AI computing, manufacturing partners like TSMC and SK Hynix remain reliant on fossil fuel-heavy energy grids [4].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Nuclear Distraction<\/strong>: Nvidia&#8217;s push for nuclear energy expansion [5] raises concerns, as this controversial source poses security risks and could detract from investments in renewable energy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Greenpeace East Asia urges Nvidia to leverage its market influence and take decisive action<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aim to transition to 100% renewable energy throughout its supply chain by 2030<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NVIDIA should make direct investments in renewable capacity in manufacturing regions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stop using &#8220;efficiency&#8221; as a justification for overall emissions growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>\u201c<em>NVIDIA has the capital to shape a sustainable future,<\/em>\u201d said Wu. <em>\u201cIf they lead the charge for green-powered manufacturing, the industry will follow. If they don\u2019t, this so-called &#8216;revolution&#8217; could be remembered as the moment we chose technology over a stable climate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>END<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/nvidianews.nvidia.com\/news\/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-2026\">NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>[2] Nvidia has made no public disclosure of any direct investment in renewable energy in East Asia to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p>[3] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/press\/68382\/nvidia-ranks-last-on-ai-supply-chain-decarbonization-greenpeace-report-finds\/\">Nvidia Ranks Last on AI Supply Chain Decarbonization, Greenpeace Report Finds<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/stand.earth\/press-releases\/tsmcs-u-s-investment-sparks-concerns-over-reliance-on-fossil-fuels\/\">TSMC\u2019s $100B US investment sparks concerns over reliance on fossil fuels<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>[5] \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nvidia.com\/blog\/nvidia-general-atomics-fusion\/\">NVIDIA and General Atomics Advance Commercial Fusion Energy<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Media Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Yujie Xue, International Communications Officer, Greenpeace East Asia (Hong Kong), +852 5127 3416, <a href=\"mailto:yujie.xue@greenpeace.org\">yujie.xue@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Nvidia announces a staggering annual revenue of US$215.9 billion, Greenpeace East Asia raises concerns that CEO Jensen Huang\u2019s vision for an &#8220;AI industrial revolution&#8221; is built on outdated energy sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":68009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/68641\/greenpeace-to-nvidia-an-ai-industrial-revolution-cannot-be-powered-by-19th-century-energy\/","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6,18,100],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-68641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-climate-impacts","tag-coal","tag-renewable-energy","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68641"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68663,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68641\/revisions\/68663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68641"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=68641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}