Google's annual environmental report is out, and it's got some energy-guzzling stats. The Tuesday release showed that the technology giant's greenhouse gas emissions have spiked 48% since 2019, seeing a 13% rise in 2023 over the previous year alone, reports the Guardian. The company says this increase is mainly driven by supply chain emissions and electricity consumption in its data centers as they try to keep up with the demand of artificial intelligence. The report notes that Google's total energy consumption at its data centers rose 17% last year, per CNBC.
The emissions are bad enough of their own accord, but the company also warns that its "extremely ambitious" goal of reaching zero emissions by 2030 is now in jeopardy and "won't be easy." "Our approach will continue to evolve and will require us to navigate significant uncertainty—including the uncertainty around the future environmental impact of AI, which is complex and difficult to predict," the company notes in the report. SemiAnalysis predicts that data centers, which play an important part in training and operating the models underlying AI models like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Gemini, will use 4.5% of energy generation around the world by 2030.
The International Energy Agency estimates that total electricity consumption by data centers will more than double from 2022 to 2026, rising from an estimated 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) to upward of 1,000TWh—about what Japan needs in terms of energy demand. Google says it hopes to tamp down on some of AI's hit to the environment via "model optimization, efficient infrastructure, and emissions reductions," per CNBC. Lawmakers in California are also making moves to curb other risks of AI, voting on Tuesday to advance a "first-of-its-kind" bill that would mandate AI firms test their systems and build in safety features to prevent manipulation, per the AP. (More Google stories.)
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