Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increased by 48% Compared to 2019 Last Year
Surge in Power Demand from AI Data Centers
Clouds Over 2030 Carbon Neutrality Goal
Global IT giant Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged by nearly 50% over the past five years. This is a consequence of increased electricity consumption at data centers. This development casts a shadow over Google’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality (net zero) by 2030.
According to Google’s annual environmental report released on the 2nd (local time), the greenhouse gases emitted by Google in 2023 amounted to 14.3 million tons (measured in CO2 equivalent, CO2e), marking a 13% increase compared to the previous year. This represents a staggering 48% increase compared to 2019.
Google attributes the sharp rise in greenhouse gas emissions to increased energy consumption at data centers and higher supply chain emissions. The explosive demand for data centers to develop and train AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has driven this increase. Google’s data center electricity consumption in 2023 rose by 17% compared to the previous year, which is estimated to account for about 7?10% of global data center electricity consumption. Additionally, supply chain emissions, which make up 75% of Google’s total greenhouse gas emissions, increased by 8% during the same period.
As competition intensifies with big tech companies like Microsoft (MS) and Amazon to expand data centers, Google’s vision of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 has become clouded. Data centers are a representative energy-intensive industry requiring not only high-voltage transmission lines but also substantial amounts of water to control heat. Goldman Sachs predicts that data centers will account for 8% of total U.S. electricity consumption by 2030.
Kate Brandt, Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), said in an interview with the Associated Press, “Achieving the net zero goal by 2030 is an extremely ambitious target,” adding, “We are fully committed to reducing emissions, including signing clean energy supply contracts.” She further noted, “AI presents an enormous opportunity to develop solutions for these climate issues.”
There are also views that concerns about environmental pollution caused by AI development are exaggerated. Bill Gates, founder of MS, stated that worries about AI’s power consumption “should not be overstated,” and predicted that “AI will contribute to the transition to clean energy and ultimately offset its greenhouse gas emissions.” However, MS announced last month that its carbon emissions have increased by nearly 30% since 2020 due to data center construction.
Lisa Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Investment at Columbia University, said, “I hope Google will engage in more rigorous discussions on accelerating clean energy development amid the climate crisis,” and evaluated, “If Google collaborates with cleaner companies and invests in power grids, the situation will begin to improve before it worsens.”
Meanwhile, the stock price of Alphabet (Class C), Google’s parent company, closed at $186.61, up 1.15% from the previous session.
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