{"id":10550,"date":"2026-11-14T02:32:29","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T02:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=10550"},"modified":"2026-11-14T02:32:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T02:32:29","slug":"nvidia-jensen-huang-chips-gpu-supply-chain-climate-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=10550","title":{"rendered":"Jensen Huang was reckless with the environment, too"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Under cofounder Jensen Huang, Nvidia has become the engine for the AI boom \u2014 and one of the tech industry\u2019s biggest environmental liabilities. Its sought-after chips have triggered a new wave of water- and chemical-intensive factories<\/a>, drained power grids from inside massive data centers<\/a>, and set the stage for a looming e-waste problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Under Huang\u2019s leadership, Nvidia clashed with environmental groups seeking to hold the company accountable for its so-called \u201chidden<\/a>\u201d emissions. Huang has talked up the idea of using AI to fight climate change while his company\u2019s supply chain emissions ballooned. Nvidia\u2019s investments, meanwhile, have supported the buildout of data centers<\/a> that have sparked intense backlash<\/a> for both their local and global impact. Now, after the CEO\u2019s shocking resignation<\/a> amid a sprawling sex-and-espionage scandal<\/a>, advocates are urging Nvidia to turn the page.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He compared AI to a surgeon who has \u201cto cut you open to save you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cJensen Huang has failed to put climate responsibility at the heart of the company\u2019s growth strategy, to slow down the unchecked expansion of data centres or to prevent its chips from being deployed in unethical applications like automated warfare,\u201d Avex Li, Greenpeace East Asia\u2019s project lead for AI supply chain campaign, said in a press release<\/a> Thursday. The organization is now pushing interim CEO Colette Kress to commit Nvidia to decarbonizing by investing in renewable energy, as well as ensuring its technology is used in a way that \u201crespects human rights.\u201d Nvidia didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment from The Verge<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Huang has projected optimism about how AI can boost the adoption of renewable energy, even as the planet-heating emissions of tech companies \u2014 including his own \u2014 have grown in the generative AI era. \u201cIf you want to turn a corner on climate change, if you want a future that\u2019s sustainable, lean into A.I. It is the best opportunity we have to get there,\u201d Huang said in a September episode of The Ezra Klein Show<\/em><\/a>, arguing that electricity demand for AI is leading companies to buy more sustainable energy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the same interview, however, he admitted data centers will rely on more fossil fuels in the near term, and that building up the infrastructure for AI will likely result in \u201can enormous amount of pain and suffering.\u201d<\/a> He compared AI to a surgeon who has \u201cto cut you open to save you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nvidia\u2019s supply-chain emissions have grown 725 percent since 2020, according to an analysis<\/a> of the company\u2019s public disclosures by research analyst Ketan Joshi and several environmental organizations, including Greenpeace and Climate Action Against Disinformation, published in September. It\u2019s an increase of about 9.4 million metric tons of planet-heating pollution, roughly equivalent<\/a> to the emissions from nearly 25 gas plants over a year. Supply chain emissions the company disclosed for fiscal year 2026 reached around 10.7 million metric tons of CO2, according to Nvidia\u2019s latest sustainability report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Joshi and his co-authors approximated how much greenhouse gas pollution comes from the use of chips the company sells, a category Nvidia doesn\u2019t include in its sustainability reports. Those emissions could have reached 21 million metric tons in 2025, according to the report, based on estimated chip power consumption. That level of pollution puts Nvidia on par with Russia\u2019s state-owned coal company, according to Joshi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Those \u201cindirect\u201d emissions \u2014 from its supply chain and the use of its products \u2014 make up the bulk of Nvidia\u2019s climate impact. The carbon footprint of facilities Nvidia actually owns and operates looks much smaller in comparison because Nvidia designs chips that other companies like TSMC then manufacture<\/a>. Greenhouse gas emissions coming directly from Nvidia-operated facilities and vehicles only reached 9,822 metric tons in fiscal year 2026, the company\u2019s sustainability report<\/a> shows. And in 2025, the company reached a goal of matching 100 percent of its facilities\u2019 electricity use with clean energy purchases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Greenpeace wants Nvidia to extend that goal to its entire manufacturing supply chain. When Greenpeace activists disrupted<\/a> Huang\u2019s speech<\/a> at Nvidia GTC in Berlin last month, he responded onstage by saying, \u201cI\u2019ll talk to you guys later \u2026 All important issues, but let me get through my keynote.\u201d In the Thursday press release<\/a>, Greenpeace says Nvidia has yet to meet with Greenpeace despite the organization\u2019s attempts to \u201cseek dialogue\u201d with the company over the past two years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOne of Huang\u2019s defining legacies is inflating a speculative AI bubble, pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure with little regard for the real-world consequences inflicted on local communities and the climate,\u201d Katrin Wu, Big Tech campaigner at Greenpeace International, said in an email to The Verge<\/em>. \u201cHuang may be gone, but the \u2018tech colonialism\u2019 Nvidia perpetuates continues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHuang may be gone, but the \u2018tech colonialism\u2019 Nvidia perpetuates continues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Beyond Nvidia\u2019s day-to-day operations, Huang threw his weight around as the CEO<\/a> of one of the world\u2019s most valuable companies \u2014 chumming it up with President Donald Trump and lobbying for the US to allow sales of its powerful chips to China. The company\u2019s influence on the global economy extended beyond chips as it invested in data centers stocking its GPUs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And with electricity supply often the thorniest bottleneck to building more and bigger data centers, Nvidia\u2019s long tendrils reached into the energy sector<\/a> as well. NVentures, the company\u2019s venture capital arm, has funded battery recycling company Redwood Materials<\/a> and startups developing AI tools to optimize power grids<\/a> and make data centers more responsive<\/a> to fluctuations in energy demand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nvidia joined one of those startups, Emerald AI, along with Google to cofound the AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA)<\/a> in September. The alliance advocates for strategies that tech companies promote as ways to keep data centers from overwhelming power grids or raising utility bills for other customers, including generating power on-site and making \u201cflexible\u201d facilities that can pause operations during times of peak energy demand. Notably, some environmental<\/a> groups<\/a> argue that those measures might just help data centers come online faster without fully insulating households from the impact that rising electricity demand has on their air quality or utility bills.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Whether Nvidia\u2019s environmental footprint shrinks or expands from here will depend on whoever steps in to fill Huang\u2019s shoes. Over the years, Greenpeace and other environmental groups have pointed out that despite having an outsize impact on the environment, Nvidia doesn\u2019t necessarily come under the same public scrutiny as more consumer-facing brands like Apple or Google. Huang\u2019s exploits have thrust the company into a new kind of spotlight, however, just as data centers increasingly face backlash from nearby communities.<\/a> Nvidia won\u2019t be able to hide from the glare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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