Google’s recent environmental report, released on July 24, highlights its use of AI technology to tackle climate change. The report showcases various tools that employ AI, such as predicting floods, calculating emissions from transportation routes, and detecting biodiversity changes. By optimizing its own operations, Google aims to reduce energy use and emissions in its data centers.
While AI has helped Google achieve significant sustainability milestones, the company recognizes the need to further minimize the environmental impact of AI models. Over the past several years, Google has leveraged AI to decrease energy consumption in its expansive network of data centers and transition to renewable electricity sources. The company’s Chief Scientist for Google DeepMind and Google Research, Jeff Dean, explains that although AI workloads are increasing rapidly, they can also contribute to sustainable solutions. Google researchers have already made strides in reducing the energy required to train AI models by up to 100 times and emissions by up to 1,000 times.
However, Google faces challenges beyond energy consumption. Its water usage has surged in parallel with the addition of more data centers to support AI technologies. Water plays a vital role in data center cooling, and in 2022 alone, Google consumed 5.6 billion gallons globally—a massive increase compared to 3.4 billion gallons in 2019. To address this issue, Google committed to replenishing 120 percent of the freshwater it consumes in data centers and offices by 2030, but it faces many challenges.
On a positive note, Google dedicates a significant portion of its expanding AI capacity to address various aspects of the climate crisis. This includes automating energy consumption reductions, decommissioning unused IT equipment, identifying water security risks, mapping urban tree canopies to increase shade, planning efficient transportation routes, and predicting floods and wildfires. These high-profile tools are outlined in Google’s 104-page environmental update, which provides metrics on progress in 2022.
Google also employs AI within its own sustainability program. For instance, it utilizes automated controls and machine learning to optimize the location of its cloud computing operations, prioritizing the use of low-carbon electricity sources. Around five years ago, the company entrusted its data center cooling and energy efficiency tasks to AI, resulting in suggestions to decrease water consumption in certain areas. Although Google does not explicitly quantify the impact of AI on its sustainability goals, it claims to have reduced the “carbon intensity” of its revenue by 76 percent since 2011. In 2022, Google reported 10.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), a decrease from 11.4 million metric tCO2e in 2021.
Google’s annual environmental report showcases its use of AI technology to address sustainability challenges. It highlights the significant progress made in reducing energy consumption and emissions, while also acknowledging the need to minimize the environmental impact of AI models. Google’s commitment to replenishing water resources and dedication to multiple dimensions of the climate crisis demonstrate its ongoing efforts to become a greener company. It waits to be seen if Google’s AI climate protection measures become a useful set of services for other companies to use.
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