Google's rising emissions expose AI's climate impact

Google is falling far short of its climate goals, and in some ways even going backwards: In its 2024 Environmental Report released this week, the company was forced to admit that its greenhouse gas emissions have increased 48% since 2019, largely due to the energy demands of AI.

This story is part of “CNET Zero,” a series that chronicles the impacts of climate change and explores what's being done about the problem.

The Silicon Valley tech giant, which aims to be net-zero by 2030, acknowledged that the surge in emissions was “primarily due to increased energy consumption in our data centers.” Google's data centers, which power online services around the world, saw a 17% increase in electricity consumption last year alone.

The AI ​​revolution is just beginning, and energy demands will only grow in the future, raising questions about whether Google can realistically expect to meet its goals. “As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may become more challenging,” the company said in the report.

For those who use this technology, perhaps it is time to ask ourselves whether AI is a clean technology we should embrace in our lives. As it stands, is it worth relying too heavily on a technology that regularly malfunctions, causes hallucinations, fails to meet our expectations, and may even exacerbate the climate crisis?

In recent years, the internet has seen a lot of discussion about whether AI poses an existential risk to humanity, mainly due to advances in generative AI. However, these discussions tend to focus on philosophical and sometimes esoteric questions about the concept of intelligence. In contrast, the climate crisis is an immediate threat to human security, affecting our homes, health, and lives in the form of heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, and floods.

Google, along with other major technology companies in the world, has ambitious environmental goals. And rightly so: endless data processing requires huge amounts of energy. But with the impacts of the climate crisis being felt in weather patterns, rising sea levels and biodiversity loss, it's crucial that our growing tech industry is not reliant on fossil fuels for its energy supply.

Climate scientists have a clear assessment of both the root causes and solutions to the climate crisis. Humanity has been emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for too long, which has resulted in the Earth warming and making it increasingly inhospitable for any life. If we want to ensure a livable Earth for our future selves and future generations, we need to stop doing that and switch to using clean, renewable energy.

And we have the solutions to make that happen, so in that sense there is hope, but all polluting companies need to do their part by eliminating their emissions.

Google's climate change challenge

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

Google's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2030 shows that the company understands the urgency of addressing the climate crisis by prioritizing the near future (many companies are setting goals for 2050 and beyond). But the goal shouldn't be praised up front: if Google can't keep its environmental commitments, it will be a clear demonstration of how it values ​​profits over the planet.

Last year alone, Google's greenhouse gas emissions increased 13% year over year. If we take Google seriously, this number should be decreasing, not increasing. Some of these emissions come from parts of Google's value chain and are therefore outside of our direct control. That's why Google acknowledges in the report that these emissions are particularly difficult to address.

The company has detailed its path to net zero in a lengthy environmental report, but it will only know if it's on track when the numbers start to line up with its plans. At some point, Google may have to make sacrifices to reach its goal.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Google isn't alone in this struggle: Microsoft also saw an increase in emissions last year, also due to the energy demands of AI. As more companies expand their AI products, from new entrants to the tech industry like OpenAI to giants like Apple, which have long prided themselves on being environmentally conscious, their energy demands will also increase.

Many optimistic tech companies, including Google, believe that AI could help solve the climate crisis by accelerating mitigation and supporting adaptation. That may well be true. But as scientists have said time and time again, reducing emissions is the one thing we can definitely do to tackle climate change. For Google and its allies, that might be the best place to start.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/googles-rising-emissions-lay-the-climate-impact-of-ai-bare/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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