by Three years ago, Google set out an ambitious plan to address climate change through “net zero,” meaning it would not release more climate-changing gases into the air than it removes, by 2030.
But a report from the company on Tuesday shows that it is not close to achieving that goal.
Instead of decreasing, its emissions increased by 13% in 2023 compared to the previous year. Compared to the baseline year of 2019, emissions have risen by 48%.
Google cited artificial intelligence and the demand it places on data centers, which require huge amounts of electricity, for last year’s growth.
If that electricity is produced by burning coal or natural gas, it releases greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane, that warm the planet, leading to more extreme weather.
The company has one of the most significant climate commitments in the industry and is seen as a leader.
Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, said Google should be doing more to partner with cleaner companies and invest in the electric grid.
“The reality is that we are far behind what we could be doing already with the technology we have, with the resources we have, in terms of advancing the transition,” she said. .
Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt told the Associated Press, “Achieving this net zero goal by 2030 is a very ambitious goal.
“We know that this will not be easy and that our approach will have to continue to evolve,” said Brandt, “and we will have to deal with a lot of uncertainty, including this uncertainty about the future environmental impacts of AI.”
Some experts say the rapidly expanding data centers needed to power AI threaten the entire transition to clean electricity, a key part of tackling climate change. That’s because a new data center can delay the closure of a fossil fuel-burning power plant or encourage the construction of a new one. Data centers are not only energy intensive, they require high voltage transmission lines and require significant amounts of water to stay cool. They are also noisy.
They are often built where electricity is cheapest, not where renewable sources, such as wind and sun, are the main source of energy.
AI could double global data center and electricity demand by 2026, according to the International Energy Agency.
The proliferation of data centers also challenges the sustainability plans of other major technology companies. They caused Microsoft’s emissions to grow 29% above its 2020 baseline, the company said in an environmental sustainability report in May.
Tech companies make the case that AI, including tools like ChatGPT, is not only partially causing climate change, but helping to combat it.
For Google, that might mean using data to predict future floods, or making traffic flow more efficiently, to save gasoline.
Amanda Smith, a senior scientist at the climate non-profit Project Pull Down, said that those using AI – both large companies and individuals making memes – need to do so responsibly, meaning that the energy is only used only when it benefits society.
“It’s up to us as humans to look at what we’re doing with it and question why we’re doing it,” Smith added. “When it’s worth it, we can ensure that those demands will be met by clean sources of power.”
Google’s emissions grew last year in part because the company used more energy; 25,910 gigawatt-hours more, an increase on the previous year and more than double the energy hours consumed just four years before. A gigawatt-hour is roughly the amount of energy a power plant serving hundreds of thousands of households puts out in one hour.
On the positive side, as Google’s consumption increases, so does its use of renewable power.
The company said in 2020 that it would meet its huge need for electricity using one clean energy every hour of every day by 2030, worldwide. Last year, Google says, it saw an average of 64% carbon-free energy for its data centers and offices around the globe. The company says its data centers are, on average, 1.8 times more energy efficient than others in the industry.
Sachs, of Columbia University, credited Google for its ambition and honesty, but said she hoped Google would “engage with us in a tougher conversation about how to “accelerate clean energy in the midst of the climate crisis,” so that it doesn’t it will go a long way. worse before it starts to get better.”
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Alexa St. is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. John. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alexa_stjohn. Contact her at ast.john@ap.org.
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