Wyoming, Montana Say Big Tech’s “Green” Claims Don’t Add Up

Wyoming and Montana, joined by attorneys general from 14 other Republican-led states, are pressing Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft to defend how “green” they really are. In a Sept. 24 letter, the group accuses the tech giants of leaning on “environmental accounting gimmicks” to say their operations run on renewable power — even as their electricity needs surge and the grid still depends heavily on fossil fuels.

At the heart of the fight is how companies count clean energy. Because a data center can’t always control the electrons flowing from its local utility, many firms buy renewable energy certificates, or RECs, from wind or solar projects to match their usage on paper. The AGs argue that doesn’t mean the companies are literally “powered by” renewables. Amazon pushed back, calling RECs a “temporary bridging mechanism” while new renewable projects they’ve contracted come online.

Energy analysts say the practice isn’t a shell game. John Rogers of the Union of Concerned Scientists notes that buying RECs creates demand and helps finance more clean power, even if the renewable electrons aren’t the ones lighting a specific server rack at a specific hour.

“You can be forcing action elsewhere in the market,” he said.

The letter goes further, blasting Big Tech for nudging utilities toward net-zero targets — moves the states claim have encouraged early retirements of coal and gas plants and, in their view, raised reliability concerns. The AGs also frame the tech companies’ climate commitments as a threat to President Donald Trump’s push to “unleash American energy.” To Rogers, that line reveals what’s really going on: the states’ interest “may not be entirely about ensuring the integrity of renewable energy markets and more about propping up fossil fuels.”

The companies were asked to answer a slate of questions about their energy sourcing, claims, and policies by Oct. 27, directing responses to Montana’s Office of Consumer Protection. Amazon says it received the letter and is reviewing it; Microsoft declined to comment. Google and Meta didn’t respond by deadline.

Alongside Wyoming and Montana, the signers include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and West Virginia — states that have been increasingly vocal about how corporate climate pledges intersect with grid reliability, utility planning, and the future of fossil fuels.

The original story by Hanna Merzbach for Wyoming Public Radio.