Google’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 were 48% higher than in 2019, according to its latest environmental report. The tech giant attributes this increase to the rising energy demands of its data centers, driven by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI). AI-powered services require significantly more computational power—and thus electricity—than standard online activities, sparking numerous warnings about the technology’s environmental impact.
Google’s target is to reach net zero emissions by 2030, but it admits that “as we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging.”
In its 2024 Environmental Report, Google highlights that the increased energy demands are due to the greater intensity of AI compute. Data centers, essentially massive collections of computer servers, are crucial for AI, which demands vast computational resources. A generative AI system, such as ChatGPT, might use around 33 times more energy than machines running task-specific software, according to a recent study.
However, Google’s report also reveals large global disparities in the impacts of its data centers.
Most centers in Europe and the Americas derive the majority of their energy from carbon-free sources. In contrast, data centers in the Middle East, Asia, and Australia use far less carbon-free energy. Overall, Google reports that about two-thirds of its energy comes from carbon-free sources.
“If you actually go into a data center, it’s really hot and really noisy,” says Tom Jackson, professor of information and knowledge management at Loughborough University.
“People don’t realize everything they’re storing in the cloud impacts their digital carbon footprint,” he adds. Prof. Jackson runs the Digital Decarbonisation Design Group, which aims to measure and find solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of data usage. “Data providers must work closely with large organizations to help them move away from storing so much of their dark data,” he advises.
Dark data is data collected by organizations that has either been used once or not at all.
Storing this data on chips consumes large amounts of energy even when it is not in use. “On average, 65% of the data an organization stores is dark data,” notes Prof. Jackson. He commends Google’s goal of achieving net-zero data centers by 2030 but acknowledges it will be “really tough.”
The increasing energy—and water—use of AI has prompted numerous warnings, especially as the sector is forecast to continue growing rapidly.
In March, the head of the UK’s National Grid warned that the combination of AI and quantum computing could lead to a six-fold surge in demand over the next ten years.
For more information, you can read the full report here.