Google retreats from 2030 net-zero goal as AI data centers drive soaring energy use

Google has recently scrubbed its "pursue net-zero by 2030" goal from its website in late June, with "Operating sustainably" renamed to "Our operations". The net-zero pledge now only appears in the appendix of Google's latest environmental report, not as a tagline on their website. Canada's National Observer first noticed the change and traced the edits in the site's history. This is a notable pivot from Google CEO Sundar Pichai's 2020 promise to run on carbon-free energy 24/7 by 2030.

The company claims that it still aims for net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030 and reports a 12 percent drop in data-center emissions in 2024 alone. The Data Centers Sustainability page still references the 2030 net-zero aim, but the page changed the wording so it sounds more like a "moonshot" than a guarantee.

Google's electricity use rose 26 percent in 2024, to a whopping 32.2 terawatt-hours (that's more than Ireland's annual consumption), driven by data centers coming online. Company-wide greenhouse gas emissions jumped 48 percent year over year amid the AI race. A single Gemini chat message consumes about 0.24 watt-hours, showing how electricity usage scales with adoption.

McKinsey estimates $6.7 trillion in global investment by 2030 to meet compute demand, with AI data centers needing an eye-catching $5.2 trillion alone, while also potentially driving up to 70 percent of new electricity demand. U.S. data centers are expected to reach 12 percent national load by 2030.

Analysts describe a sector-wide "climate strategy crisis" as energy demand soars, causing some reduction targets to lose meaning without credible pathways. There are political issues too when it comes to clean energy, as the Trump administration's stance on climate initiatives and talk of "incredibly clean" coal complicate corporate signaling. Whether Google's pivot will be mirrored by other big tech companies remains to be seen, since Microsoft and Amazon still present net-zero as a headline priority in their latest reports.