Data centers drew 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2025 — slightly above the 451 TWh used by France — and the International Energy Agency projects that figure could reach roughly 950 TWh by 2030.

That load profile is reshaping how carbon dioxide removal (CDR) developers choose sites and customers. Direct air capture vendors including Avnos, Climeworks and Microsoft-internal DAC programs now explicitly name hyperscale AI operators as anchor offtakers, integration partners, and — for thermal and airflow coupling — co-located infrastructure donors.

How much power and water does AI actually draw?

The IEA's 2025 estimate puts data center electricity use at 485 TWh. France consumed 451 TWh over the same period. The agency's 2030 projection lands near 950 TWh.

Water intensity is harder to benchmark. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reports that larger data centers can draw up to 5 million gallons per day — roughly 1.8 billion gallons a year, equivalent to the annual household use of about 16,000 average American families.

Microsoft disclosed a 25 percent jump in fiscal-year 2025 greenhouse gas emissions, citing data center expansion and the suspension of unbundled renewable energy certificates.

Why is direct air capture the leading pairing?

Relae Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Colin McCormick, formerly of Carbon Direct, identified DAC as the most suitable CDR pathway for AI sites because both technologies move large volumes of air.

"Placing DAC filters in the airflow of these data centers might 'double up' on this airflow, using it for both cooling and CO2 removal, reducing costs," McCormick said. The trade-offs are real: filter banks add back-pressure on air handlers and chillers, regeneration cycles need concentrated heat, and CO2 compression draws power many sites do not have to spare.

McCormick flagged sequestered mass timber and CO2-binding cement and concrete blends as limited but lower-integration-cost alternatives.

What did Avnos ship this month?

Avnos launched its HDAC Module this month, billed as the first standardized, factory-built product in the company's Hybrid DAC line. The unit runs on low-grade waste heat, the company said, cutting electrical demand by more than half versus heat-based DAC.

Avnos named data centers, carbon storage developers, and e-fuels producers as initial target buyers.

What does a credible AI–CDR pilot look like?

Relae Senior Director of Industrial Decarbonization AJ Simon said a useful pilot would test the interface between the two industries, not the headline numbers.

"There is plenty of innovation happening in data center design and DAC technology development. Therefore, an AI-CDR pilot program should be designed to address the key challenges and opportunities at the interface between these two industries," Simon said.

Microsoft's DACinDC pilot integrates a DAC stack into a live site, regenerating sorbents on waste heat and tuning performance with AI-designed materials. Meta and Amazon are also exploring site-level integrations.

How big could CDR procurement become?

Climeworks' recent whitepaper lists CDR procurement as one of four pillars of responsible AI development, alongside resource efficiency, clean energy, and low-carbon materials. Approved procurement pathways include:

• Biochar
• Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)
• Direct air capture and storage (DACS)
• Enhanced rock weathering
• Afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR)

Microsoft, Google, Amazon and — most recently — Anthropic have committed roughly $915 million collectively to scale carbon removal. Milkywire has signaled interest in procuring CDR generated from data center integrations that unlock a technical or economic edge. A Healthier Earth launched what it calls the world's first integrated carbon removal platform sourced from data center operators, targeting hyperscaler buyers in Europe.

McCormick cautioned that even with hyperscaler demand, the abatement any single DAC-equipped site can deliver remains a sliver of its own emissions if it runs on unabated natural gas — a constraint that will keep removal credits, rather than on-site capture, as the dominant near-term lever.

The next marker to watch is the first batch of operating data from DACinDC and the Avnos HDAC deployments, alongside hyperscaler disclosures on whether the $915 million in pledged commitments translates into offtake contracts with durable storage. Those answers will decide whether data centers become a true scale engine for permanent CDR or simply another credit buyer.