The Recarbonisation of the Internet with Chris Adams

Chris Adams, Director of Technology and Policy at the Green Web Foundation, returns to Architect Tomorrow to unpack the first State of the Fossil-Free Internet report, subtitled The Dirty Data Centre Edition.We cover:00:00 Welcome and reintroduction02:00 The AMEE full-circle story: how Ollie and Chris first crossed paths in the late 2000s cleantech wave04:00 Why an annual report on the fossil-free internet, and why now06:00 Chris on "recarbonisation" as the real story of the last 18 months10:00 What actually counts as the "internet" for the report's boundary12:00 The hyperscale scale-up: from 25MW medium-sized to multi-gigawatt speculative projects15:00 Geopolitics, coal, and the Strait of Hormuz risk21:00 The biggest surprise in pulling the report together23:00 The Anthropic-Colossus deal: why moving fast means ignoring the laws26:00 "AI safety for whom?" and the sacrifice zone framing30:00 Brand safety as the practical route in for architects34:00 The SBTi scope 2 story, "May not Shall" lobbying, and the shift from zero-carbon to low-carbon43:00 "Surrender-based targets" and why gas lifecycle emissions matter46:00 The three levers: reduce demand, green the energy, democratise tech47:00 There is more than one way to architect AI: China, India, and the clock tower to wristwatch analogy52:00 Angry optimism, Wright's law, and why batteries are 45% cheaper year on year55:00 Data centre moratoria as meaningful policy56:00 CloseNote: This episode was recorded in May 2026, before the SBTi published the final Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 during June 2026. The "low-carbon electricity" framing Chris discusses did survive into the final standard, though with additional constraints on companies with rapidly growing electricity demand. Referenced in this episode:Green Web Foundation report: https://fossilfree.greenweb.org/2026/Green Web Foundation tools: https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/green-web-check/ClimateAction.tech community: https://climateaction.tech/Green Software Foundation: https://greensoftware.foundation/Tech Carbon Standard: https://techcarbonstandard.org/Ollie's HM Treasury ID25 talk on balancing AI innovation and sustainability: https://blog.scottlogic.com/2025/11/12/balancing-ai-innovation-sustainability-hm-treasury-id25.htmlThere is more than one way to architect AI: https://blog.scottlogic.com/2025/02/21/there-is-more-than-one-way-to-architect-ai.htmlChris Adams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisadams-berlin/Oliver Cronk on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/cronkyNote that Oliver now works as a fractional chief architect and sustainable tech advisor at https://cronkadvisory.comArchitect Tomorrow is an independent, community-led podcast for enterprise, business, and technology architects. LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/architect-tomorrow-6864159042021949440/#GreenSoftware #FossilFreeInternet #EnterpriseArchitecture #SustainableAI #DataCentres #ClimateTech #ArchitectTomorrow