Google has revealed that its greenhouse gas emissions have risen by 48% since 2019, reaching 14.3 million tonnes of CO2 in 2023. According to its latest environmental report, this increase is primarily driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and its growing demand for computing power.

Data centres—the backbone of online services and emerging generative AI tools—require significantly higher energy consumption. Amazon and Microsoft face similar challenges, although all three tech giants emphasise their investments in renewable energy, efforts to reduce waste, and initiatives to replenish water used for cooling servers.

Despite this setback, Google remains committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2030.