Google’s emissions climb nearly 50% in five years due to AI energy demand

- Google's greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 48% over the past 5 years, reaching 14.3m metric tons in 2023 - Google's goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030 is at risk due to growing reliance on energy-hungry data centers for artificial intelligence products - Data centers could use up to 4.5% of global energy generation by 2030 due to AI growth - Microsoft has admitted that energy use related to data centers is endangering its goal of being carbon negative by 2030 - Water usage is another concern with AI growth, with estimates that AI could account for up to 6.6bn cubic meters of water use by 2027