Dematerialization through services is a popular proposal for reducing the human impact on the environment. The idea is that by shifting from the production of goods to the provision of services, a society can reduce its material demands. But do societies with a larger service sector actually dematerialize? This paper tests the `dematerialization through services' hypothesis with a focus on fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions --- the primary drivers of climate change. Using an international panel of data, I find no evidence that increasing the relative size of the service sector leads to carbon dematerialization (either in relative or absolute terms). Instead, the evidence suggests that the \textit{opposite} is true: a larger service sector is associated with greater use of fossil fuels and greater carbon emissions per person.