"Google’s emissions rose 13 percent last year despite the tech giant’s goals to become net-zero by the end of the decade as artificial intelligence (AI) drives an increase in energy consumption.

“As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands from the greater intensity of AI compute, and the emissions associated with the expected increases in our technical infrastructure investment,” Google wrote in its annual environmental report.

The company aims to cut its total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and invest in carbon removal solutions to neutralize its remaining emissions.

However, since its baseline year of 2019, Google’s emissions have ticked up 48 percent, rising from the equivalent of 9.7 million tons of carbon dioxide to 14.3 million tons, according to the report released Tuesday."

Julia Shapero reports for The Hill July 2, 2024. [2]