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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteAWS reports global data-center water-use efficiency (WUE) of 0.12 liters per kilowatt-hour (L/kWh) in 2025 on its current sustainability page. Its 2024 Amazon Sustainability Report reported 0.15 L/kWh for 2024. The supplied title calls AWS the “first CSP” to publish these metrics, but the available evidence does not verify when AWS first published WUE or establish that it was first among all cloud service providers.
What is AWS’s data-center water-use efficiency?
AWS defines WUE as the volume of water withdrawn per kilowatt-hour of IT load in a data center. The latest value shown on the AWS Cloud sustainability page is 0.12 L/kWh for 2025. This is an intensity measure, not AWS’s total water withdrawal, local water scarcity, or the effect on a particular community.
How AWS’s reported WUE has changed
| Year | Global data-center WUE | Publication context |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 0.25 L/kWh | Reported in Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report |
| 2022 | 0.19 L/kWh | Reported in Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report |
| 2023 | 0.18 L/kWh | Reported in Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report |
| 2024 | 0.15 L/kWh | The report describes this as a 17% improvement from 2023 and 40% from 2021 |
| 2025 | 0.12 L/kWh | Current figure on AWS’s sustainability page, accessed September 27, 2026 |
The 2024 report also says AWS reduced cooling-water needs in North America by 946 million liters during 2024. That reduction is an absolute volume for the stated region and year; it is not another WUE value.
What the denominator and numerator mean
Water withdrawn, not necessarily water consumed
WUE uses water withdrawn for data-center operations. Withdrawal and consumption are different: water may be returned after use, while consumed water is not returned to the source in the same form or timeframe. A WUE number therefore cannot be converted into total consumption without additional data.
IT-load denominator
The denominator is kilowatt-hours of IT load inside the data center. Comparing AWS with a provider that uses total facility energy, a different boundary, or a different reporting year can produce a misleading ranking.
How AWS’s industry comparison is calculated
AWS presents an industry-average withdrawal WUE of 0.84 L/kWh on its AWS Cloud page. This is AWS’s calculated comparison, not a directly observed universal average. The page starts with a 0.56 L/kWh consumption-WUE figure attributed there to de Vries-Gao (2025), then assumes three cycles of concentration, consistent with U.S. Department of Energy best-practice guidance, to derive the withdrawal figure.
Because the benchmark depends on those source and engineering assumptions, readers should compare AWS’s 0.12 L/kWh with it as an indicative reference rather than as a definitive industry league table.
How AWS customers can see water-withdrawal data
In July 2026, AWS announced annual water-withdrawal data through the Sustainability Console and API. Customers can view data by AWS Region, service, and AWS account for sustainability planning. The AWS Sustainability Console provides the console experience and API/SDK access; the announcement is documented at AWS Sustainability service now includes water withdrawals data.
Rank #3
AWS explains its attribution method this way: “The model allocates total water withdrawals from AWS data center operations to individual customer accounts based on their proportional cloud service usage, to ensure customers receive transparent, attributable water withdrawals data.”
What is included
- Water withdrawals directly supporting AWS cloud delivery, including data-center cooling.
- Domestic uses at operational data centers.
- Fire-flow tanks.
- Facilities AWS owns, leases, or controls.
What is excluded
- Warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and office buildings.
- Customer-hosted sites such as Outposts and certain embedded or extension locations.
The complete boundary description is in AWS’s System boundary documentation. Account-level figures are allocated estimates based on proportional cloud usage, not separate meters installed for each customer.
What AWS says it is doing to reduce water demand
Monitoring and operational controls
Amazon’s 2024 report describes water-monitoring technology, real-time leak detection, treatment technologies, and other water-conserving measures used by AWS teams.
Liquid cooling for AI workloads
The report says AWS began integrating liquid-cooling components into new data centers for AI workloads. It projects that these designs can reduce mechanical energy use by up to 46% during peak cooling conditions compared with previous designs. That is a company forecast about energy use, not a measured 46% reduction in water consumption.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Water-positive goal
Amazon reports AWS was 53% of the way toward its goal of being water positive by 2030—returning more water to communities than its direct operations use. This percentage is Amazon’s reported progress measure; it does not change the definition of WUE.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to evaluate AWS WUE responsibly
- Use the same reporting year for every provider.
- Check whether the numerator is withdrawal or consumption.
- Check whether the denominator is IT load or another energy basis.
- Confirm whether owned, leased, and partner facilities are included.
- Look for regional detail and local water-scarcity context.
- Separate intensity from absolute withdrawals and community impact.
- Identify whether a peer benchmark is measured data or an inferred calculation.
A lower L/kWh value indicates less withdrawn water per unit of reported IT load, but it does not by itself show that a facility uses less total water, operates in a less stressed watershed, or has a smaller community impact.
Is AWS confirmed as the first CSP to publish WUE metrics?
Not on the evidence available here. AWS has published the figures above, but the historical first-publication date and a complete comparison with every cloud service provider have not been established. The “first CSP” wording should therefore be treated as an unverified priority claim, not a confirmed industry fact.
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