MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Three years ago, Google set an ambitious plan to address climate change by going “net zero,” meaning it would release no more climate-changing gases into the air than it removes, by 2030.
But a report from the company Tuesday shows it is nowhere near meeting that goal.
Rather than declining, its emissions grew 13% in 2023 over the year before. Compared to its baseline year of 2019, emissions have soared 48%.
Google cited artificial intelligence and the demand it puts on data centers, which require massive amounts of electricity, for last year’s growth.
Making that …