China’s internet firms have fallen behind global peers in sourcing energy from clean, renewable sources, with soaring use of internet data driving up energy demand and carbon emissions, environmental group Greenpeace said in a report

As capacity grows rapidly, the Internet data sector could make up a third of the world’s total electricity needs within two decades, putting pressure on technology giants in China and elsewhere to find cleaner power sources. But while some of the Chinese technology companies get clean energy from rooftop solar panels or through a green electricity pilot certificate, most have failed to meet their overseas competitors’ commitments, Greenpeace said.

“Power consumption in the Chinese internet industry is growing rapidly and it is imperative that Chinese internet giants get the industry to break free from coal,” said Ye Ruiqi, a Greenpeace climate and energy fighter.

In an evaluation of 15 large companies, Greenpeace said only one – the digital service provider Chindata – agreed to meet 100% of its energy needs from renewable sources to meet long-term commitments from global giants like Apple and Google . Among the companies that rely heavily on cloud computing is the e-commerce giant Alibaba was rated as the best performer in the Greenpeace survey, which also examined the influence of government and industry, as well as data transparency and emissions. Tencent came second, followed by Baidu and Huawei.

Huawei already has its own solar plants at some facilities and has pledged to minimise power demand throughout its supply chain, a company spokesman said, adding that it was now working on new long-term emissions targets.

China’s internet data sector produced 99 million tonnes of CO2 in 2018 and consumed 161 terawatt-hours (TWh) of power, 2.35% of the national total, a previous Greenpeace study showed, adding that 73% of electricity used by the sector was supplied using coal.