Amazon's New Texas Power Plant Could Emit More CO2 Than Any Coal Plant in America
A gas plant built to power Amazon's West Texas data center has a pollution permit larger than any coal facility in the US. The company says its climate commitment stands, but its own emissions have risen for years.
Key points
- Amazon has invested in a new natural-gas power plant in Pecos County, Texas, called GW Ranch, to power a nearby data center.
- Texas regulators issued GW Ranch a permit to release up to 33 million tons of CO2 per year, more than any coal plant currently operating in the US.
- The plant's 35 gas turbines are designed to generate 7.65 gigawatts of electricity, enough to run a small city.
- Jeff Bezos pledged in 2019 to make Amazon carbon-neutral by 2040, but Amazon's emissions have risen every year since AI demand accelerated.
- Amazon confirmed it owns the site and plans to buy power from GW Ranch.
Amazon is building one of the most polluting power plants in American history to keep its artificial intelligence data centers running in West Texas.
The plant, called GW Ranch, sits in Pecos County, Texas. It runs on natural gas burned through 35 turbines, and it will generate 7.65 gigawatts of electricity. That is enough power for roughly six million average US homes. At least initially, that electricity will not flow to Texas homes or businesses. It will go straight to Amazon's nearby data center.
How bad is the pollution permit?
Texas issued GW Ranch a permit allowing it to release up to 33 million tons of CO2 per year. That is more than the largest coal-burning power plant in the United States currently emits. Cleanview, a research firm that tracks data centers and their associated power projects, flagged the permit's size. Facilities rarely emit as much as their permits allow, but the ceiling matters: it signals just how loosely this plant is constrained.
For comparison, the average American car produces roughly 4.6 tons of CO2 a year. The GW Ranch limit is equivalent to about 7 million cars running non-stop.
What does this mean for Amazon's climate pledge?
Amazon's climate situation is under real pressure. Jeff Bezos co-founded the Climate Pledge in 2019, committing Amazon to reach net-zero carbon emissions, meaning it removes as much carbon as it produces, by 2040. But the company's actual emissions have climbed for several consecutive years, driven largely by the enormous electricity demands of AI data centres.
Amazon spokeswoman Margaret Callahan told the New York Times, which first reported the story: "The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge, but our commitment hasn't changed."
That is a notable admission wrapped in reassurance. The world does look different: AI has transformed how much electricity large tech companies consume, and Amazon, Google, and Meta are all now building their own private power plants to keep up.
Is Amazon alone in doing this?
No. Several large technology companies have turned to gas and other non-renewable energy sources as AI computing demands have grown sharply. The current US administration has also moved to loosen restrictions on polluting power plants, which makes this kind of project easier to permit.
What separates GW Ranch is its scale. A permit ceiling of 33 million tons of CO2 is extraordinary by any measure.
What should ordinary people take from this?
Every AI query, every cloud-storage backup, every streamed video runs on electricity from somewhere. When companies build their own off-grid power plants to feed data centers, those emissions fall outside normal grid accounting and can be harder for regulators and consumers to track. If Amazon's climate pledge matters to you as a customer, this project is worth watching closely as construction progresses.
Common questions
Does a permit mean the plant will actually emit 33 million tons?
No. Permits set a legal ceiling, not a forecast. Plants typically emit less than their maximum allowance. But critics argue that a ceiling this high removes any meaningful pressure to operate cleanly.
Why can't the plant just use renewable energy?
Amazon and other companies say solar and wind alone cannot yet supply the constant, uninterrupted power that large data centers need around the clock, especially in remote locations. Gas turbines can run continuously regardless of weather.
