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Google misses emissions reduction target

2024-07-03 17:37:47, Tech CNA

Google misses emissions reduction target

Illustrative photo, source Reuters

Google, which has an ambitious plan against climate change, fell nowhere near its goals last year, according to an annual report published by the company on Tuesday. Instead of decreasing, the company's emissions increased by 13% in 2023. Total energy consumption for the tech giant has more than doubled since 2019. Google attributes this increase to the use of artificial intelligence and demand from data storage centers.

Three years ago, the company "Google" announced an ambitious plan to tackle climate change, saying that it would reduce the emission of harmful gases as much as possible by 2030.

But a recent report published by the company shows that it is far from achieving this goal. Instead of decreasing, the company's emissions increased by 13% in 2023, compared to the previous year. If you compare the figures with 2019, emissions have increased by 48%.

"Google" mentioned the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the high demand of electricity that data storage centers require for this process. And the process of making electricity traditionally emits harmful gases like carbon dioxide and methane, which warm the planet.

Some experts say that the centers that store the data of the company "Google" are expanding rapidly due to the high demand for the use of artificial intelligence.

This means that a data center with its own electricity needs can delay the shutdown of a fossil fuel-burning power plant. They require high voltage transmission lines and need significant amounts of water to stay cool. These centers are also noisy. Another factor is that these centers are built in those places where electricity is cheaper, not always where renewable sources, such as wind and solar, are a key source of energy.

“We need to understand that if we're using more electricity to do something, it needs to come from renewable and low-carbon sources as much as possible. But we also have to ask the question, what is the benefit we get from this data center or is the use of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity?", says Amanda Smith, from the organization "Drawdown".

According to the International Energy Agency, electricity demand could double by 2026 from data storage centers by technology companies.

Even Microsoft said that emissions from data centers increased by 29.1% from the 2020 baseline. Technology companies say that the use of artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, is not partially causing climate change through emissions. , but it is also helping to address these problems.

"We are still learning how we can use artificial intelligence to solve some problems, put it to good use. So it is important to understand that with the use of artificial intelligence we do not only increase emissions, but it can also serve as a force that reduces the impact on climate change. It's up to us how we use it," says Amanda Smith, Drawdown organization.

Google's emissions increased last year in part because total energy consumption also increased; up to 25,910 gigawatt hours, more than double the hours of energy consumed just four years ago.

A gigawatt-hour is roughly the energy released by a power plant that supplies several hundred thousand households in one hour. The company "Google" also announced that the use of renewable energy has also increased./ VOA