What Did Amazon Do This Week?

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AMAZON WANTS MORE WATER-HUNGRY TECH CENTRES IN DROUGHT-RIDDEN AREA

Chile, a country grappling with a prolonged drought expected to last until 2040, is witnessing a surge in data centres built by tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. These centres, while obviously bringing in investment, are raising concerns about their environmental impact, particularly their high water consumption.

Local activists are pushing back against these developments and demanding transparency regarding water usage and environmental impact assessments before new data centres are approved. While Amazon already has one such centre, the company has announced plans and only this week resubmitted plans after much push back from Chilean groups who want much stricter regulations.

Alas, they’re unlikely to get them, there’s a 94% approval rate for environmental evaluations, because of economic and poverty in the surrounding region. While some companies will offset their impact, often these efforts are inadequate and take years to really have an impact. As countries grapple with resource scarcity, striking a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability will be a key challenge. For Amazon and co, it’s mainly about skirting the optics and having fingers pointed when people die from lack of water.

An Amazon Web Services spokesperson told Rest of World the company has complied with all the requirements of the Declaration of Environmental Impact (DIA), a self-assessed declaration about the project’s environmental impact, for its Padre Hurtado and Huechuraba data centres. The spokesperson also stated that Amazon is committed to (but did not use the word guarantee) giving back more water than the amount it uses in its direct operations globally by 2030 to the communities in which it operates. Details on how have not yet been made clear.

SO WHAT?

The news comes a week after Jassy and co rejected all 14 resolutions proposed by external parties, which included issues like climate impact, AI dev oversight, and corporate governance transparency. The need for data centres will continue to be prioritised over any human cost in areas that Amazon and co cannot adequately monetise in other ways. Hello Capitalism and the AI race that hasn’t even begun yet.

The bigger issue here is the teeth showing by Amazon and the optics to regulators. The move, however prettied up (and however many villains - Amazon isn’t the only company using/wanting this real estate), very clearly looks like a big company mugging the worlds resources and putting profit above people in real need. Not the optics they want right now, but likely the optics they can afford.

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