Google’s carbon emissions have shot up 51% since 2019, fueled by the rise of AI and the datacentres needed to power it. The company’s AI push, including models like Gemini, is pushing energy use—and emissions—way up.
Electricity consumption is up 27% year-over-year as Google scrambles to keep its clean energy efforts ahead of skyrocketing demand. The International Energy Agency warns datacentre electricity usage could double by 2026, hitting 1,000TWh, about as much as Japan consumes now. Research firm SemiAnalysis forecasts AI could gulp 4.5% of global energy generation by 2030.
Google’s biggest headache is scope 3 emissions—those coming from its entire supply chain. These jumped 22% in 2024 alone and are driving an overall emissions increase of 11% year-on-year, now totaling 11.5 million tons of CO₂-equivalent. The company blames supply chain growth and datacentre expansion. 
A key bottleneck is clean power. Google backs new tech like Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and advanced geothermal, but those options are slow to roll out and expensive. Regulatory hurdles aren’t helping either.
“A key challenge is the slower-than-needed deployment of carbon-free energy technologies at scale, and getting there by 2030 will be very difficult. While we continue to invest in promising technologies like advanced geothermal and SMRs, their widespread adoption hasn’t yet been achieved because they’re early-stage, relatively costly, and poorly incentivised by current regulatory structures.”
The company is hustling to buy clean energy. Since 2010, Google has signed deals to purchase more than 22GW of renewables, with a record 8GW agreements inked in 2024 alone. Twenty-five clean energy projects went live this year, adding 2.5GW to its footprint.
Google also reached a milestone moving to 100% plastic-free packaging on products launched and manufactured in 2024—beating its 2025 goal early.
The firm believes AI could still help cut emissions overall by improving energy efficiency for users, cities, and businesses, aiming to reduce 1 gigaton of CO₂ emissions globally by 2030 through smarter energy tools.
“AI could have a net positive potential on climate, because it hoped the emissions reductions enabled by AI applications would be greater than the emissions generated by the AI itself, including its energy consumption from datacentres.”
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