Google’s carbon emissions soar by 48% due to AI

Google’s commitment to achieve net-zero by 2030 is in doubt as carbon emissions surged 48% since 2019, according to their latest environmental report.  

"In spite of the progress we're making, we face significant challenges that we're actively working through," Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Senior Vice President Benedict Gomes said in the report. 

The leap in emissions is largely due to energy-guzzling data centers and supply chain emissions necessary to power artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The report estimated that in 2023, Google’s data centers alone account for up to 10% of global data center electricity consumption. Their data center electricity and water consumption both increased 17% between 2022 and 2023. 

The report states that Google released 14.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide just last year, 13% higher than the year before.  

Google admits in the report that its ambitions to achieve net-zero by 2030 will not be easy: “As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands associated with the expected increases in our technical infrastructure investment.” 

Climate scientists have shown concerns as Big Tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft continue to invest billons of dollars into AI, although Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates argues that AI will accelerate more carbon reduction than addition in energy demand. 

Despite the increase in emissions, the report claims they will be “boldly accelerating climate action with AI” through the ability of AI to optimize complex systems.  

Google has pledged to run on carbon-free energy around the clock within each power grid it operates by 2030 to minimize its environmental impact and work towards its net-zero targets. Last year, an average of 64% carbon-free energy was used to power its data centers and offices. 

"A sustainable future requires systems-level change, strong government policies, and new technologies," the report stated. 

"We're committed to collaboration and playing our part, every step of the way."