Google's emissions up 50% since 2019, threatening 2030 climate goal

Google's emissions are up 50 percent

Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased by nearly 50 percent over the past five years. The company’s 2024 Environmental Report reveals this significant rise, driven primarily by the energy demands of its data centers and supply chain.

This growth directly contradicts Google’s climate goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. The report explicitly states that "future emissions may be challenging to reduce" due to the increasing integration of artificial intelligence across its products and services.

AI and data centers drive the increase

The explosion of artificial intelligence is a major factor behind the soaring energy use. Training and running large AI models requires immense computational power, which in turn consumes vast amounts of electricity.

Google’s data center electricity consumption in 2023 alone grew by 17 percent. This surge contributed to a 13 percent year-over-year rise in the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions, reaching 14.3 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

• Total GHG emissions up 48% since 2019
• Data center electricity consumption up 17% in 2023
• 13% overall emissions increase year-over-year

The challenge of clean energy

Google has historically matched its electricity use with 100 percent renewable energy purchases. However, this strategy does not mean its operations are powered solely by clean sources around the clock.

The company now faces the more difficult task of sourcing carbon-free energy for every data center, at every hour of the day. This "24/7 carbon-free energy" goal is far more challenging, especially as electricity grids in many regions still rely on fossil fuels.

Supply chain emissions are the biggest hurdle

The largest portion of Google’s carbon footprint now comes from its scope 3 emissions. These are indirect emissions from its supply chain, including the manufacturing of servers, construction of data centers, and the lifecycle of its sold hardware.

These emissions grew by 8 percent in 2023. Google admits that reducing them is "challenging" and will require new procurement strategies, better data, and changes in how it designs and builds infrastructure.

A reckoning for tech's climate promises

Google’s report highlights a growing industry-wide tension. The race to develop and deploy energy-intensive AI is colliding with public climate commitments made years ago, when the scale of the AI boom was not fully anticipated.

Other tech giants, including Microsoft, are reporting similar increases in emissions. The trend suggests that without a massive acceleration in clean energy deployment and efficiency gains, the tech industry’s climate goals may be slipping out of reach.

The coming years will test whether these companies can innovate their way out of a problem their own innovation helped to create.