Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged 48 per cent in the past five years due to the expansion of its data centres that underpin artificial intelligence systems, leaving its commitment to get to “net zero” by 2030 in doubt. The Silicon Valley company’s pollution amounted to 14.3mn tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2023, a 48 per cent increase from its 2019 baseline and a 13 per cent rise since last year, Google said in its annual environmental report on Tuesday.
However, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates last week also argued that AI would help propel climate solutions. Meanwhile, energy generation and transmission constraints are already posing a challenge for the companies seeking to build out the new technology. Analysts at Bernstein said in June that AI would “double the rate of US electricity demand growth and total consumption could outstrip current supply in the next two years”.