Greenpeace: Chinese Internet firms falling behind on renewable energy goals

Among companies heavily reliant on cloud computing, e-commerce giant Alibaba was ranked the best performer in Greenpeace's survey. — Reuters

SHANGHAI: China's Internet firms have fallen behind global peers in sourcing energy from clean, renewable sources, with soaring use of Internet data driving up energy demand and carbon emissions, environmental group Greenpeace said in a report on Jan 9.

As capacity rises rapidly, the Internet data sector could account for a third of total global power demand within two decades, putting tech giants in China and elsewhere under heavy pressure to find cleaner sources of electricity.