Google just released its annual sustainability report on Tuesday, and the numbers aren’t pretty. The company revealed that its greenhouse gas emissions have increased by nearly 50% over the past five years, fueled by AI’s massive energy consumption. It looks like Google still has a long way to go before it gets close to its goal of being net-zero emissions by 2030.
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The most shocking statistic from Google’s 2024 Environmental Report is that the tech giant’s greenhouse gas emissions are up 48% compared to 2019, the base year for tracking the company’s progress. That’s a 13% increase from the previous year, equivalent to 14.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
By comparison, the average car emits 4.6 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, which means that Google emitted more greenhouse gases last year than more than 3.1 million cars.
Google’s report attributes this surge primarily to “rising data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions.” In other words, artificial intelligence is to blame. This isn’t surprising, considering that Google’s AI search summaries alone consume 10 times more energy than a standard Google search (as do ChatGPT queries). Like many technology companies, Google is rapidly adopting AI in nearly every area of its business, from translation tools to photo apps.
“As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing our emissions may be challenged by increased energy demands from greater AI computing intensity and emissions associated with expected increases in our technology infrastructure investments,” Google’s report said.
While it has no intention of slowing down its AI integration, Google doesn’t seem at all worried about whether it can realistically continue on its current course and reach its net-zero goal by 2030. The tech giant said it expects greenhouse gas emissions to temporarily increase and then decline, but has offered few practical explanations for how it intends to achieve this. Google even acknowledges that it currently has no solutions to some of the problems preventing it from reaching its net-zero goal.
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These bars should be getting lower, not higher.
Credit: Google
Apparently, that’s a problem for Google going forward.
“Our approach will continue to evolve and must navigate significant uncertainties, including the future environmental impacts of AI, which are complex and difficult to predict,” Google wrote. “Furthermore, the solutions to some key global challenges do not currently exist and will depend heavily on the broader clean energy transition.”
The company points out that while its total emissions are increasing, the rate of increase has slowed compared to the previous two years. Still, saying it’s not polluting as badly feels like a weak excuse: If Google continues on the same progress it could easily double its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, rather than becoming net-zero.
Additionally, Google cited a 2021 report from Boston Consulting Group that argues that AI has the potential to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 5 to 10 percent. Specifically, AI can reduce emissions by analyzing areas like production and transportation to improve efficiency, the report said. But it paid little attention to the emissions costs of the AI technology itself. The report was also conducted by members of BCG GAMMA, which sells AI solutions to companies.
In any case, 10 percent is pretty insignificant compared to 48 percent.
It’s not all bad news in Google’s 2024 Environmental Report. The company said it has replenished about 18% of the freshwater it uses in its data centers and offices, triple the rate it used in 2022. That’s still far from Google’s 120% goal, but it’s significantly better than 6%. Packaging for new products launched in 2023 is also 99% plastic-free, an improvement of 3%.
But Google fell back in other areas: Food waste diverted from landfills fell from 85% to 82%, and the amount of recycled plastic in Google products dropped from 41% to 34%.
