‘CHINA’S INTERNET SECTOR COULD CONSUME FOUR TIMES MORE POWER BY 2035’

BEIJING: China’s computer data centres and rapidly expanding 5G stations could use four times more electricity by 2035, putting Beijing’s carbon neutral goals under stress, a new report released by the environment group Greenpeace said on Friday.

Electricity use by data centres and 5G base stations in China will grow by an estimated 289% between 2020 and 2035, the report said.

The huge jump in power consumption would mean more carbon emissions as 61% of China’s electricity generation is from coal, the report added.

According to Greenpeace data, the combined electricity consumption by data centres and 5G base stations in China stood at more than 200 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) in 2020.

“If current trends continue, this is expected to rise to 782 billion kwh by 2035, the group said, which means the sector will be one of the fastest growing sources of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions,” the report said.