Natural Gas-Powered AI Push Sees Meta Retreat From Clean Energy Pact

Technology giant Meta has withdrawn from the RE100 clean energy initiative, a pact it had honored for over a decade. The company's departure is driven by its growing reliance on natural gas to power hyperscale data centers, crucial for its artificial intelligence development plan. Meta indicated that renewable energy sources simply cannot meet its escalating near-term power demands, prompting significant investments in U.S. natural gas plant projects. Although rivals like Google and Microsoft also utilize fossil fuels, Meta's commitment to gas-fired power is substantially larger. The explosive growth of AI and data centers presents a major hurdle for tech firms to uphold clean energy pledges, with natural gas and coal expected to fulfill over 40% of new data center electricity demand by 2030.

Technology giant Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - has exited from a clean energy pact it had been a signatory to for over a decade, following a natural gas-powered push for its hyperscale data centers. The company’s exit from the RE100 - a corporate renewable energy initiative - was revealed late last week by Recharge News. The initiative was floated by non-profit outfit The Climate Group founded by former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair. Despite Meta’s exit, its other big tech rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft remain among the initiative’s 400-plus signatories. Another rival Amazon is not RE100 member. While confirming the "amicable" move, a Meta spokesperson declined further comment.

The company needs reliable power sources for data centers at the heart of its artificial intelligence development and expansion plans. While Meta’s renewable energy partnerships for wind and solar energy continue, it is also turning to natural gas-fired power sources in the U.S. as renewables simply cannot keep pace with its near-term demand projections.

Recent overtures include Meta’s backing of ten such power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, following on from a 200 megawatt facility in Ohio that it backed in June 2025. And the tech giant is not alone in turning to natural gas. Both Google and Microsoft have also invested in power sourced from fossil fuels. However, Meta’s moves dwarf its rivals in wattage terms. As AI development morphs into a multibillion dollar industry, deployments accelerate, and the hyperscale data centers needed for the activity continue to grow exponentially, the tension between 'Big Tech' headline growth and clean energy commitments continues to grow too.

Many tech firms have inked long-term power purchase agreements with utilities and suppliers. These contracts are underpinned by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. But with power demand for data centers tipped to grow between 10% and 15% per year between now and 2030, if not more, as noted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, additional power sourced from natural gas-fired plants is increasingly coming into view both within the U.S. and elsewhere.