CONTACT: Emily Moore, Climate + Energy Program Director, Sightline Institute, emily@sightline.org
FULL REPORT: A Climate Hawk’s Guide to Northwest Data Centers, May 2025
SEATTLE, WA – A new report from nonpartisan regional research group Sightline Institute complicates a growing narrative of data center demand for power undermining the region’s climate goals.
Sightline’s analysis finds that data centers’ climate impact in Oregon and Washington has been modest to date, not yet enough to reverse the states’ forward march toward carbon-free electricity. Further, protections in the two states’ laws shield the region from many, though not all, of the noxious outcomes data center corporations are causing throughout the United States. Rather than risk pushing data centers to states with weaker environmental protections and dirtier power grids, the report urges Northwest leaders to leverage data facilities’ demand for power — and tech companies’ deep pockets — to accelerate the broader economy’s transition to clean energy.
Key takeaways:
- Data centers consume 11 percent of Oregon’s electricity and 6 percent of Washington’s; most analysts expect those numbers to rise quickly over the next several years. (Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, among others, all have data centers in the region.) Data centers have contributed to Oregon’s overall power demand rising 23 percent over the past decade, while Washington’s electricity consumption has dropped 4 percent over the same period.
- Emissions from electricity production in both Oregon and Washington have dropped in the past decade, though likely more slowly than they would have absent data centers. Most of the emissions impact from data centers is concentrated at just 6 of the Northwest’s 100+ utilities.
- The Northwest’s policy safeguards prevent climate backsliding. For instance, most regional hydropower is protected for non-data center customers, and utilities cannot build new gas or coal fired power plants to serve data centers in either state.
- Still, if data centers’ usage projections materialize, utilities could delay shutting down one or more of the 17 gas plants in the area or burn more coal and gas in neighboring states with weaker environmental protections.
- Northwest policymakers can leverage tech companies’ energy appetite, strategic business interests, corporate climate commitments, and deep pockets to accelerate the broader economy’s transition to abundant clean energy, including by building out the electric grid and facilitating tech investment in clean energy resources.
“Data centers are already here,” said Emily Moore, director of Sightline Institute’s Climate and Energy program and lead author of the report. “With the right policies, leaders can harness data centers’ demand for power to realize our region’s bigger picture vision: a clean electrified economy and a safe healthy climate for future generations.”
Moore is available for comment on the findings of the report.
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Emily Moore is Director of Sightline Institute’s Climate + Energy program. She leads the organization’s work transitioning Cascadia away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner energy sources. Find her latest research here.
Sightline Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank providing leading original analysis of energy, democracy, forests, and housing policy in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, and beyond.
