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Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) carbon emissions have surged nearly 50% over the past five years due to rising data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions caused by the power demands of its artificial intelligence systems, the company said in its annual environmental report released this week.
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) announced that its 2023 emissions will rise to 14.3 million metric tons of carbon equivalent, up 48% from its 2019 baseline and 13% from the previous year, seemingly threatening the company’s pledge to reach “net zero” by 2030.
The company said its energy-related emissions in 2023 were primarily due to electricity consumption at its data centers, up 37% from the previous year and, overall, accounting for 25% of the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
The impact of AI on electricity demand has been well documented, with electricity demand predicted to increase by as much as 20% by 2030, according to a CNBC report, with AI data centers alone expected to increase electricity demand in the U.S. by approximately 323 TWh.
Bernstein analysts recently said that AI “could double the rate of growth in U.S. electricity demand, causing total consumption to exceed current supply over the next two years.”
Renewable energy is expected to play a key role in meeting AI’s energy needs, but Wells Fargo analyst Roger Reed told CNBC that early adoption will be difficult due to factors such as the time it takes to build the transmission lines to transport the resources to data centers.
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) isn’t the only tech giant acknowledging rising emissions due to AI demand: Microsoft said in May that its emissions had increased by nearly a third since 2020, mainly due to data center construction.
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