Meta to invest over $1 billion in a supposed “energy-efficient” AI-ready data centre as an independent report flags weak climate performance
Meta is all set to build its 30th data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, involving an investment that will exceed $1 billion. According to the company, more than 1,000 skilled trade workers will be required during peak construction, and over 100 operational roles will be created once the facility opens. Meta states that the data centre is being designed specifically for AI workloads rather than traditional cloud storage, reflecting the growing compute demands of modern large language models and ranking algorithms used across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta notes that the center will use AI-optimized server racks, higher-density power delivery and updated thermal systems designed for sustained, high-load operations. The company says these engineering changes are important for handling today’s training and inference tasks at scale. Meta also states that it will fund around $200 million in upgrades to local energy transmission lines and substations, explaining that such improvements are necessary because AI-focused center consume significantly more continuous power than standard server farms.
A major technical highlight, according to Meta, is its move to a dry-cooling system. The company says this setup will allow the data center to operate without using water for cooling once it becomes active. Meta adds that many large-scale data centers rely heavily on water to manage heat, especially those running GPUs and accelerators, making dry-cooling a notable engineering choice.
Meta further explains that dry-cooling requires precise airflow design, heat-exchange planning and rack-level thermal control to manage the heat generated by high-performance AI hardware. The company also states that it will restore 100% of the water used during construction back to local watersheds.
According to Meta, it is also working with Ducks Unlimited and other groups to restore 570 acres of degraded wetlands and prairie land surrounding the campus. Meta says about 175 acres will be transferred directly to Ducks Unlimited for ecological restoration.
Meta states that the data centre’s electricity consumption will be matched with 100% clean and renewable energy, noting that facilities of this scale typically rely on long-term solar, wind and clean power agreements.
The company also claims that the building is targeting LEED Gold Certification, which it says includes high-efficiency standards, advanced air handling and low-carbon construction materials designed to support stable thermal and power conditions for dense AI compute clusters.
However, while Meta highlights efficiency measures and environmental benefits around the Beaver Dam project, the wider climate picture is more complex. The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor 2025 identifies Meta as one of the weakest climate performers in the global tech sector and gives its net-zero-by-2030 pledge a “very poor” integrity rating.
According to the report, the pledge lacks a clear emissions-reduction target and relies heavily on market-based accounting. It also notes that around 37% of Meta’s emissions come from its own data centres, and that its 100% carbon-free energy claim is based on annual matching rather than real-time clean power, which does not guarantee carbon-free electricity at the moment those AI systems are consuming it.
The monitor further states that Meta does not disclose emissions from third-party data centres and has co-founded a lobbying group advocating for looser carbon-accounting rules, factors which, according to the report, raise Meta’s overall climate-risk profile as energy-intensive AI operations continue to expand.
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