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Indirect carbon emissions from the operations of four of the leading AI-focused tech companiesAmazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Metarose on average by 150% from 2020 to 2023, as they had to use more power for energy-demanding data centers, a United Nations report said on Thursday. The use of artificial intelligence is driving up global indirect emissions because of the vast amounts of energy required to power data centers, the report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the U.N. agency for digital technologies, said. Indirect emissions include those generated by purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by a company. Amazon’s operational carbon emissions grew the most, at 182% in 2023, compared with three years before, followed by Microsoft at 155%, Meta at 145%, and Alphabet at 138%, according to the report. The ITU tracked the greenhouse gas emissions of 200 leading digital companies between 2020 and 2023. Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, pointed Reuters to its sustainability report that said it is working to reduce the amount of emissions, energy, and water used to power its data centers. The other companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment. As investment in AI increases, carbon emissions from the top-emitting AI systems are predicted to reach up to 102.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the report stated. The data centers that are needed for AI development could also put pressure on existing energy infrastructure. “The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving a sharp rise in global electricity demand, with electricity use by data centers increasing four times faster than the overall rise in electricity consumption,” the report found. It also highlighted that although a growing number of digital companies had set emissions targets, those ambitions had not yet fully translated into actual reductions of emissions. By Olivia Le Poidevin, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
A growing genre of social media posts now tracks the rising costs of goods in real terms as President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit some of the biggest retail stores in the U.S. On Reddit pages for stores like Walmart, Target, and Michaels, users have posted images of price tags like receipts, showing what Trump’s tariffs have already cost consumers over the past several months. Price tags for a Jurassic Park-themed T. rex dinosaur toy at Walmart show the retail price jumping from a sale price of $20 up to $55. Elsewhere, a charging cable went from $9.99 to $17.99 and a sheet cake pan went from $24.99 to $39.99. The photos are in line with price increases Business Insider tracked using data from the third-party service AisleGopher. The price of one toy from 4/19 to 5/21. byu/Nvalee inwalmart As a meme format, side-by-side images of price tags are simple and effective, communicating the idea of tariffs stoking inflation in an easy-to-grasp, visual way. They have the opposite effect of Walmart’s old 1990s-era “Rollback” campaign in which the big box store’s smiley face mascot made products magically cheaper by bouncing from price tag to price tag. And unlike the fuzzy math of Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs board, the prop he used at his press conference to first announce his tariff regime, these tariff price tag posts communicate a message simply without needing any complicated math: prices are going up. Its happening byu/Kurzz_slivr inTarget Walmart reported it grew sales 4% in the most recent quarter, but its net income fell to $4.49 billion, same-store sales fell, and the company admits it won’t be able to eat the cost of tariffs itself. CEO Doug McMillon argued Walmart was “positioned to manage the cost pressure from tariffs as well or better than anyone.” While more than two-thirds of the products the retailer sells are made, assembled, or grown in the U.S., he said tariffs will pass on some inflated costs to consumers. Oh ok byu/TheOtherHannah inTarget “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” McMillon said on Walmart’s earnings call last month. Other companies including Best Buy, Costco, Mattel, Macy’s, and Nike have said they already have or soon will raise some prices due to tariffs. Tariffs byu/Majestickenny12 inwalmart Like “I Did That” stickers of then-President Joe Biden at gas station pumps during Biden’s term or egg price trackers under Trump, tariff price tag photos draw attention to cold, hard numbers. But sometimes the specific numbers matter less than the overall feeling. Tariffs anyone? This is gonna be ridiculous. byu/Esperacchiusdamascus inwalmart One post on the Target subreddit shows an end-cap display selling Crayola 10-pack markers mistakenly listed for $99 instead of 99 cents. The photo is jokingly labeled with the caption, “Tariffs be like,” but the months-old meme needs to be updated. According to the third-party service PriceTracker, Target hasn’t sold those markers as cheap as 99 cents since 2024. They now cost $2.59.
Category:
E-Commerce
Travelers from 12 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East woke up Thursday to news they were being barred from entering the U.S., while others, from 7 additional countries, including Venezuela, learned their visa programs were being cancelled. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that effectively bans travel from “foreign nationals” in more than a dozen countries from entering the U.S. citing “national security” concerns. Slated to go into effect on Monday, June 9, the restrictions revisit and expand a previous ban from Trump’s first term. Like many of his executive orders, it is expected to be challenged in court, and comes as part of this administration’s relentless anti-immigration agenda. Here’s what to know about this latest travel ban. What countries are on the travel ban list? The ban fully restricts the entry of individuals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also partially restricts the entry of travelers from an additional 7 nations: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Why did Trump ban travel to the U.S. from those 12 countries? The administration said the ban was needed to ensure these foreign governments would comply with Trump’s immigration policies, and the president made his decision based on a State Department report, according to The Washington Post. The order said the restrictions were meant to “encourage foreign governments to improve their information-sharing and identity-management protocols and practices.” According to the administration, the banned countries had high rates of people who had overstayed their visas, had poor passport security vetting procedures, and had country-specific risk factors. However, the ban does include exemptions: for law abiding permanent residents, existing visa holders and those from certain visa categories, and those who serve U.S interests, per the Post.
Category:
E-Commerce
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