{"id":336151,"date":"2024-07-11T09:19:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T07:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336151"},"modified":"2024-07-11T09:19:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T07:19:42","slug":"googles-net-zero-plans-are-going-up-in-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336151","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Net Zero Plans Are Going Up in Smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Robert Bryce Substack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Bryce<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, the search giant has touted its alt-energy deals and net zero plans. But these four charts show that Google\u2019s electricity use, CO2 emissions, and carbon intensity, are soaring.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, Google declared it had reached \u201c100% renewable energy for our global operations<\/a>.\u201d The company continued, \u201cGoogle became carbon neutral in 2007, and since then, our carbon footprint has grown more slowly than our business \u2014 proof, 10 years later, that economic growth can be decoupled from environmental impact and resource use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That \u201cdecoupling\u201d didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, since 2017, Google\u2019s environmental reports show that the company\u2019s electricity use, CO2 emissions, and carbon intensity have soared. The most recent numbers came out last Tuesday when the search and advertising colossus released its 2024 environmental report<\/a>. And the numbers don\u2019t lie. As seen in the chart below, since 2017, CO2 emissions at Google have jumped four-fold to a company record of 14.3 million tons in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why does this matter? There are many reasons. First among them: Google has been among the most aggressive promoters of the notion that it was a different kind of company, a \u201cclean\u201d industry from Silicon Valley that wouldn\u2019t pollute like old industrial companies such as U.S. Steel or ExxonMobil. But the latest numbers show that Google is, at root, an industrial company that relies on massive digital foundries \u2014 that\u2019s a better description than the anodyne \u201cdata centers\u201d \u2014 that use staggering quantities of juice. Further, the company\u2019s electricity needs could never be supplied by wind and solar alone. Or to put it bluntly, Google\u2019s claims about decoupling itself from the realities of the physical world and the vagaries of electric grids were little more than corporate greenwashing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, Google isn\u2019t just a giant of Big Tech, it\u2019s among the most dominant corporations of our era. It controls 92% of the search engine market<\/a>. For comparison, Microsoft\u2019s Bing has a 3% share. Google is the world\u2019s most-visited website. Coming in at number two is YouTube<\/a>, which is owned by Google, or rather, by the parent company, Alphabet<\/a>. Thus, whether we like it or not, Google has become interwoven with our online experiences, and as shown in the chart below, those experiences have a growing carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s driving the increase? Its new report says emissions grew by 13% in 2023, \u201cprimarily driven by increased data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Third, Google has aggressively moved to squash debate over climate change on its platform, including on YouTube. In 2021, as reported by Axios,<\/a> Google announced a policy that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Prohibits climate deniers from being able to monetize their content on its platforms via ads or creator payments….It\u2019s one of the most aggressive measures any major tech platform has taken to combat climate change misinformation…Google advertisers and publishers will be prohibited from making ad revenue off content that contradicts \u201cwell-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As the chart below shows, the CO2 intensity of Google\u2019s operations has doubled since 2020. That\u2019s not misinformation. Those numbers come directly from the company\u2019s reports. (Those reports are long and challenging to read. Further, the company has not been consistent in its reporting. I used the 2024<\/a>, 2021<\/a>, and 2019<\/a> reports.) But don\u2019t expect to see these trends reported by major media outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, just as Google dominates search, it also dominates the stock market. If you own an index fund that tracks the S&P 500, you own Google. The company\u2019s market cap of $2.4 trillion<\/a> and surging growth make it a must-own for any exchange-traded fund that invests in growth stocks or the broader stock market. For instance, Alphabet represents about 4.3% of the stock holdings in State Street\u2019s S&P 500 ETF (Ticker: SPY).<\/a> Thus, Google\u2019s rising greenhouse gas emissions reflect the broader economy in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Google is signaling that it cannot achieve net zero. The company\u2019s chief sustainability officer, Kate Brandt, told the Associated Press last week<\/a> that reaching net zero by 2030 \u201cis an extremely ambitious goal. We know this is not going to be easy and that our approach will need to continue to evolve.\u201d (For more on that topic, see my June 3 piece, \u201cVaclav Smil Calls Bullshit on Net Zero<\/a>.\u201d) Brandt continued, saying the company will have to manage \u201ca lot of uncertainty, including this uncertainty around the future of AI\u2019s environmental impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, given the trajectory of its emissions growth and its ongoing push to build massive new data centers for AI \u2014 particularly in countries where the electric grids rely mainly on hydrocarbons \u2014 it\u2019s safe to assume that Google\u2019s emissions will continue climbing for years to come. In April, it announced it would spend $3 billion on new data centers in the U.S.<\/a>, including $2 billion in Indiana, which gets about 45% of its electricity from coal-fired power plant<\/a>s. Further, in its latest environmental report, the company said that although it\u2019s making progress on \u201cclean\u201d energy, there are \u201csome hard-to-decarbonize regions like Asia Pacific\u201d where carbon-free electricity \u201cisn\u2019t readily available. In addition we often see longer lead times between initial investments and construction of clean energy projects and the resulting GHG reductions from them.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Amazon and other Big Tech companies are (finally!) showing interest in nuclear energy. In March, Amazon Web Services acquired Talen Energy\u2019s data center campus in Pennsylvania, which will allow AWS to buy as much as 480 megawatts of power from the nearby 2.5-gigawatt Susquehanna nuclear plant<\/a>. But there isn\u2019t enough nuclear capacity for all of the Big Tech companies to power their digital foundries with fission power, not here in the U.S. and certainly not in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, I talked to Doug Hohulin, a Kansas City-based technologist who works on AI and closely follows the data center sector. He summed up the predicament facing Google and the other power-hungry members of Big Tech. \u201cThere\u2019s just not enough wind and solar available,\u201d he said. \u201cNuclear used to be seen as bad, and now it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of those statements are true. Right now, it appears that Google and other Big Tech companies will see continuing increases in emissions until the U.S. and other countries get lots of new reactors built and online. That won\u2019t happen quickly and it won\u2019t be cheap. But Google\u2019s emissions show that Big Tech doesn\u2019t have many other choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking Engagements In Nantucket And Newport This Week On Offshore Wind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I will be giving two lectures this week on offshore wind. On Monday, July 8, I\u2019ll be in Nantucket speaking at the Dreamland Theater. Start time is 6 pm. Click here for tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the 9th, I\u2019ll be in Newport, RI, at Emmanuel Church. The start time for that event is 5:30 pm. More info on the Newport event is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are in the area, by all means, please attend. I will discuss the history of the offshore wind industry, the threat it poses to critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales, and the future of American energy. Hint: It\u2019s still N2N: natural gas to nuclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years, the search giant has touted its alt-energy deals and net zero plans. But these four charts show that Google\u2019s electricity use, CO2 emissions, and carbon intensity, are soaring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":336154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691827130,691819793,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-336151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co2","9":"tag-google","10":"tag-net-zero","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/017653b53-2304-42c4-b154-cd22a1e71704_2470x2015.jpg?fit=2470%2C2015&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1prN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":335527,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335527","url_meta":{"origin":336151,"position":0},"title":"Google emissions surge nearly 50% as demand for AI sets fire to their Net Zero plan","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Saint Google\u2019s climate piousness vanished the moment they had to give up something they cared about. 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