Google’s Report Shifts Focus onto Data Centre Emissions

Google’s 2024 Environmental Report reveals that its overall GHG emissions have steepled by 13% in a year – thanks in no small part to AI and data centre energy consumption.

The revelation has raised the challenging question of whether it is possible to make carbon-hungry AI and data centres sustainable.

Speaking in the introduction to the report, Google CSO Kate Brandt and Benedict Gomes, SVP, Learning & Sustainability, said: ”In spite of the progress we are making, we face significant challenges that we’re actively working through.

“In 2023, our total GHG emissions increased 13% year-over-year, primarily driven by increased data centre energy consumption and supply chain emissions.”

They added: “A sustainable future requires systems-level change, strong government policies and new technologies. We’re committed to collaboration and playing our part, every step of the way.”

While the headline figure is alarming, the report contains numerous pieces of good news, including:

• Achieving at least 90% carbon-free energy in 10 grid regions and maintaining a global average of 64% carbon-free energy
• Contracting 4GW of clean energy generation capacity, more than in any previous year
• AI-powered fuel-efficient routing has enabled 2.9 million metric tons of GHG emissions reductions, equivalent to removing 650,000 cars from the road
• Nearly doubled its water replenishment portfolio and replenished an estimated 1 billion gallons of water
• Achieved 100% plastic-free packaging for Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

The positives will be celebrated, but most eyes are on the 13% GHG emissions year-on-year increase – a figure that is 48% higher than in 2019.

The pros and cons of AI and data centres

While AI – and the data centres required to handle it – are here to stay, Kate and Benedict highlight ways that Google has endeavoured to mitigate the environmental impact.

They said: “We know that scaling AI and using it to accelerate climate action is just as crucial as addressing the environmental impact associated with it.

“To help minimise our environmental footprint, we’ve built world-leading efficient infrastructure for the AI era, including Trillium, our sixth-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), which is over 67% more energy-efficient than TPU v5e.”

They added: “We’ve also identified tested practices that our research shows can, when used together, reduce the energy required to train an AI model by up to 100 times and reduce associated emissions by up to 1,000 times. All these practices are used at Google today.”

They said Google-owned and -operated data centres are, on average, approximately 1.8 times as energy efficient as a typical enterprise data centre.

They continued: “AI holds immense promise to drive climate action. In fact, AI has the potential to help mitigate 5–10% of GHG emissions by 2030.”

They report said Google is “advancing climate action through AI in three key areas”:

• Organising information: Fuel-efficient routing uses AI to analyse traffic, terrain and a vehicle’s engine to suggest the most efficient route. It’s estimated to have helped enable more than 2.9 million metric tons of GHG emissions reductions since the feature launched in late 2021 to the end of 2023
• Improving prediction: Google said it built a breakthrough global hydrological AI model and combined it with publicly available data sources to predict floods up to seven days in advance in over 80 countries
• Better optimisation: Green Light is an AI-based tool that helps city traffic engineers optimise the timing of traffic lights to reduce stop-and-go traffic and fuel consumption.

Kate and Benedict said: “Through our products, we aim to help individuals, cities and other partners collectively reduce 1 gigaton of carbon equivalent emissions annually by 2030 and we’ll continue to develop technologies that help communities adapt to the effects of climate change.”

Uncertainty ahead

The headline to the AI section of the report is ‘Boldly accelerating climate action with AI’. But within the section, there is a brutal reality to the words.

It says: “In 2023, our total data centre electricity consumption grew 17%, despite maintaining a 100% global renewable energy match.

“As Google’s infrastructure continues to power the digital transition, providing numerous economic benefits across the globe, we expect this trend to continue in the future.

“But we see our growing infrastructure as an opportunity to drive the innovations and investments needed to power a low-carbon economy.”

It said predicting the future environmental impact of AI is “complex and evolving”, adding: “Our historical trends likely don’t fully capture AI’s future trajectory.

“AI is at an inflection point and many factors will influence its ultimate impact – including the extent of AI adoption, our ability to mitigate its footprint and the pace of continued innovation and efficiency.”

It poses a challenge to global business and political leaders: “Additionally, system-level changes are needed to address challenges such as grid decarbonisation, evolving regulations, hard-to-decarbonise industries and the availability of carbon-free energy.

“While we remain optimistic about AI’s potential to drive positive change, we’re also clear-eyed about its potential environmental impact and the collaborative effort required to navigate this evolving landscape.”

Google's Environmental Report 2024

Proud to share: committed to collaboration

Luke Elder, Lead, Sustainability Reporting, Google, wrote on LinkedIn: “After many months of collaboration with Googlers around the world, we're proud to share an update on our sustainability journey – the progress, the challenges, and our unwavering commitment to a more sustainable future.

“This year's report is a testament to the passion and dedication of our teams, who are working tirelessly to develop innovative solutions for a low-carbon, sustainable world.”

He added: “From AI-powered flood forecasting to innovative carbon-free energy technologies, to sustainability features throughout Google's core products and a growing portfolio of water replenishment projects—we're making a real impact today.”

But Luke’s conclusion mirrored the tone of the report and comments.

He said: “We're also honest about the challenges we face, including the growing energy demands of our operations, the computer-intensity of AI and the need for systemic change.

“We believe in transparency and accountability, and we're committed to collaboration and playing our part, every step of the way.”

******

Make sure you check out the latest edition of Data Centre Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Tech & AI LIVE 2024

******

Data Centre Magazine is a BizClik brand