Google's AI Push Puts Climate Goals in Jeopardy. It Could Do So Much Better

Google is falling so short of its climate goals that in some respects it's going backwards. In the company's 2024 Environmental Report, which came out this week, Google was forced to admit that its greenhouse gas emissions had grown 48% since 2019 -- in large part due to energy demand from AI.

The Silicon Valley tech giant, which is aiming for net zero emissions by 2030, acknowledged that the jump in its emissions was "primarily driven by increased data center energy consumption." In the last year alone, Google's data centers, which power its online services around the world, saw a 17% growth in electricity consumption.

With the AI revolution only in its infancy and with its demand for energy expected to continue surging, even Google -- which has been vigorously promoting and implementing its Gemini AI systems -- is questioning whether it can realistically expect to meet its target. "As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging," the company said in its report.

Google is far from the only company struggling on this front. Microsoft, too, saw an increase in emissions last year, also due to energy demand from AI. And as more companies grow their AI products, demand for energy will likewise grow. This equation involves newer entrants to the tech scene, such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, as well as powerhouses like Apple, which has long boasted of its environmental credentials.

All this raises questions for people using the technology: Is AI is a clean technology that we should be integrating into our lives? And with AI regularly misfiring, hallucinating and falling short of our expectations, is it worth it to become overly reliant on a technology that might be exacerbating the climate crisis?

The internet has been rife with discussions about AI posing an existential risk to humans, thanks largely to breakthroughs in generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT, Gemini, Dall-E, Perplexity and other chatbot systems. But these discussions often focus on philosophical, sometimes esoteric, questions around the concept of intelligence. In comparison, the climate crisis poses an immediate threat to human safety in the form of heat waves, wildfires, drought and floods that affect our homes, health and livelihoods.

Google and the other biggest tech companies have set themselves some lofty environmental goals -- and rightly so. The world's endless churn of data requires gargantuan amounts of energy. But with the impacts of the climate crisis evident in our weather patterns, rising sea levels and biodiversity loss, it's crucial that the ever-growing technology industry doesn't rely on fossil fuels to provide that energy.

Climate scientists have been clear in their assessment of both the root cause and the solution to the climate crisis. For centuries, humans have emitted greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that are causing the world to heat up and become increasingly inhospitable to all forms of life. If we want to secure a livable planet for our future selves and generations to come, we must stop and switch to using clean, renewable forms of energy.

And we do have the solutions to make that happen. In that sense, we can be hopeful. But every polluting company needs to play their part by eliminating their emissions.

Google's climate challenge

Google says it wants to do its bit, but it still needs to show us how serious it is by first and foremost reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

What we can tell from Google's goal of net-zero emissions by 2030 is that by prioritizing a near-term date, the company understands the urgency of tackling the climate crisis (many companies are setting goals of 2050 or later). But this goal shouldn't be preemptively applauded. If Google fails to honor its environmental commitments, it will be making a clear statement about how seriously it values profit versus the planet.

Last year alone, Google's greenhouse gas emissions rose 13% year over year. If we are to take Google seriously, that number should be going down, not up. Some of these emissions come from parts of Google's value chain and therefore aren't directly within its control, which, the company acknowledges in its report, make them particularly hard to tackle.

In its lengthy Environmental Report, the company details its pathway to net zero, but we'll only know whether it's making progress when the numbers start to align with its plans. At some point, Google may need to make sacrifices if it's to meet its goal.

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Many optimistic tech companies, including Google, believe that AI might actually play a role in helping to solve the climate crisis by accelerating mitigation and supporting adaptation. This may well be the case. But as scientists have reiterated time and time again, reducing emissions is the one thing we can be sure of as a way to tackle climate change. It might be best for Google, and its peers, to start there.