Google misses climate target, blames AI electricity needs - Breitbart

In a recent report, Google's ambitious plan to combat climate change through cleaner operations fell short of its goals last year. The company's annual Environmental Report highlighted the challenges it faced in meeting important climate targets, attributing the shortfall to the electricity demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. The energy required to power AI and data centers, often generated from coal or natural gas, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate climate change by warming the planet and causing extreme weather events. Google's Chief Sustainability Officer, Kate Brandt, acknowledged the company's lag in achieving its climate commitments and emphasized the need for a more rapid transition to cleaner energy sources. Despite setting a net zero emissions goal by 2030, Google's emissions surged by 48% compared to its baseline year of 2019. The company recognized the critical role of AI in both contributing to and mitigating climate change, with AI tools like ChatGPT being utilized to address environmental challenges such as predicting flooding and optimizing traffic flow for fuel efficiency. Experts caution that the rapid expansion of data centers to support AI applications poses a significant threat to the transition to clean electricity, a crucial aspect of combating climate change. While tech companies like Google argue that AI can be a force for positive change in sustainability efforts, the increasing energy consumption associated with AI operations underscores the importance of transitioning to clean energy sources. Google aims to power its operations with clean energy around the clock by 2030, striving to enhance energy efficiency in its data centers to align with industry standards.