By 2025, the proportion of green electricity usage will soar to 48.5%. Tencent is building a new paradigm of green computing power in the AI era

According to Zhitong Finance APP, on August 17, Tencent (00700) released its "Carbon Neutrality Mid-term Report." Against the backdrop of a surge in AI computing power demand, Tencent has offset the carbon emissions brought about by increased electricity consumption through a three-pronged approach of "purchasing green electricity, enhancing energy efficiency, and building new energy sources," achieving an increase in computing power without a rise in carbon emissions. By 2025, the proportion of green electricity used by Tencent will increase from 22% in 2024 to 48.5%, with the share of green electricity in its own data centers reaching as high as 82.9%.

The report shows that Tencent's green electricity procurement volume has tripled, growing from 1.36 million megawatt-hours in 2024 to 4.13 million megawatt-hours in 2025. As a supplement to energy efficiency improvements and self-generated green electricity in parks, Tencent's green energy procurement strategy is guided by three principles: "additionality, traceability, and proximity," prioritizing the procurement of high-quality renewable energy electricity to achieve substantial system-level emissions reductions. As a result, the proportion of renewable electricity used in self-built internet data centers has significantly increased from 49.8% in 2024 to 82.9% in 2025, ensuring Tencent steadily moves towards its goal of achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2026.

Tencent has incorporated energy efficiency standards for electricity utilization and renewable energy usage requirements into its communications with partners; at the same time, it supports the green transformation of leased data centers through long-term collaboration, clean energy agreements, and structured green electricity procurement models. This initiative has achieved significant results: the proportion of renewable electricity used in leased data centers has increased from 3.8% in 2024 to 21.4% in 2025. Tencent plans to achieve 100% certified green electricity usage in leased data centers by no later than 2030. The combination of energy efficiency enhancement design, self-generated green electricity in parks, and green electricity procurement constitutes the core pillar of Tencent's transformation towards low-carbon digital infrastructure, enabling Tencent to decouple business growth from carbon emissions in the AI-driven era.

Tencent has been certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), committing to achieve comprehensive carbon neutrality in its operations and supply chain, as well as 100% green electricity by no later than 2030. In the domestic green electricity market, Tencent is one of the first companies to participate in pilot projects, fully supporting the construction process of the green electricity market from scratch.

In response to the computing demands of the AI era, Tencent has launched a new generation of data center architecture - Tencent Intelligent Computing Center T-AIDC. With the rapid development of AI business, the power demand for cabinets has increased from 6 to 8 kilowatts to 30 to 100 kilowatts or even higher, necessitating upgrades to the power supply, cooling, and system design of data centers. T-AIDC adopts an integrated architecture to meet high-density computing needs, with power supply efficiency reaching up to 98%.

Tencent is also actively using AI and digital technology to help more industries reduce emissions. For example, in the steel industry, AI intelligent scheduling and digital twin technology can help steel mills allocate energy more flexibly, thereby reducing carbon emissions, lowering operating costs, and enhancing grid stability. Tencent is also collaborating with industry partners to explore how to use AI intelligent scheduling to allocate computing tasks in data centers based on the real-time supply of renewable energy, allowing high-energy-consuming digital infrastructure to fully utilize renewable electricity Tencent is promoting the transition of climate technology from the research stage to practical application through the "CarbonX Program," focusing on supporting innovations in carbon removal, carbon utilization, and long-term energy storage. At the same time, Tencent has launched the "CarbonLIVE" climate intelligence platform, connecting governments, investors, and the climate technology sector to help various parties share climate solutions and related data and investment opportunities.

By 2030, global data center electricity consumption is expected to double; a typical AI data center consumes as much electricity annually as 100,000 households. In this context, energy waste caused by heat dissipation is particularly prominent, and traditional air cooling methods are increasingly inadequate to meet current demands. Tencent's self-developed next-generation data center architecture, T-AIDC, provides a solution: relying on advanced liquid cooling technology to remove heat, combined with intelligent software for precise adjustment of cooling loads, significantly reduces ineffective energy consumption in the heat dissipation process. This "energy efficiency black technology" allows more electricity to be used for computing power operations, achieving a power supply efficiency of 98%.

In Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, Tencent has established the country's first data center that directly supplies 100% wind and solar green electricity and coordinates computing power. AI dynamically schedules computing tasks, transforming computing loads into a flexibly adjustable "energy reservoir," which not only enhances the utilization rate of green electricity but also helps maintain grid stability. Additionally, all of Tencent's self-built data center parks are uniformly equipped with photovoltaic and new energy systems, with the Huailai park forming an integrated microgrid system of "wind, solar, and storage."

Beyond its own infrastructure, Tencent is promoting the industrialization of global climate technology from the laboratory through the CarbonX Program, using an innovative model of "technology + funding + scenarios." This program has selected 16 teams from 660 applications across 54 countries to support the application of early low-carbon technologies in carbon capture, carbon utilization, carbon storage, and long-term energy storage, helping new low-carbon technologies cross the "valley of death." The climate intelligence platform "CarbonLIVE" connects governments, investors, and climate technology stakeholders to improve access to climate solutions.

Pony Ma, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, stated in the report: "AI will undoubtedly be the core driver of the next phase of carbon neutrality actions. While it brings energy consumption challenges, it also holds the key to solving climate issues. We are taking the lead in reducing carbon emissions from infrastructure using digital and AI technologies, and this is just the beginning. We firmly believe that the potential of AI goes beyond this—it will accelerate low-carbon innovation, enhance efficiency, and drive green transformation across various industries."