Traced: NVIDIA's Scope 3, +725% since 2020
Claim: NVIDIA's Scope 3 emissions are up 725% since 2020 (Greenpeace briefing, “NVIDIA's AI climate hoax”, Sep 2026).
I traced it to NVIDIA's own disclosures.
- FY2020 Scope 3: 1,296,150 tCO2e (FY21 CSR report, goals and performance table; same series carried in the FY22 report).
- FY2026 Scope 3: 10,700,940 tCO2e (FY26 sustainability report, indicators table).
- Difference: 9,404,790 tonnes. Ratio 7.256x = +725.6%.
The claim holds, and it is the conservative cut. NVIDIA's own FY20 report first published FY20 Scope 3 at 415,913 tCO2e; the FY21 report carries the same year at 1,296,150. On the as-first-published basis the growth is 25.7x, not 7.26x. So 725% is the floor.
The seam to watch is method, not arithmetic. FY26 category 1 switched to supplier-specific activity data, replacing a full spend-based approach, and NVIDIA did not restate the FY25 comparator. On the old basis the arithmetic still runs: FY20 to FY25 is +433%, and FY24 to FY26 is 2.94x.
Source before claim. If you use the number, use the floor, not the ceiling.