Google asks major suppliers to commit to 100% renewable energy as emissions continue to rise

Google has announced a new program, the Google Renewable Energy Addendum, that calls on its largest hardware suppliers to commit to 100% renewable energy by 2029. It is one of the company’s initiatives to address its carbon footprint, which is growing as it expands its value chain and data centers.

The new initiative was announced alongside the release of Google’s 2024 Environmental Report, which highlights the company’s environmental initiatives and progress toward achieving its Sustainable Development Goals.

Google’s environmental goals include 2030 targets to achieve net zero emissions across all of its operations and value chain and reduce combined absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 50% from 2019 levels, investing in natural and technology-based carbon removal solutions to neutralize remaining emissions.

However, despite the company’s targets, the report indicated that emissions continue to rise, increasing by 13% in 2023 alone and by 48% compared to the 2019 base year.

According to the report, scope 3, or value chain emissions, make up the majority of the company’s carbon footprint, accounting for 75% of total emissions, while scope 2, which mainly covers purchased electricity, accounts for 24%.

In 2023, Google’s Scope 3 emissions increased by 8%, with most of the increase driven by purchased goods and services, upstream emissions from purchased electricity, and data center construction. In addition to the new renewable energy supplement, Google outlined some of its initiatives to address Scope 3 emissions, including a Supplier Code of Conduct that mandates suppliers to minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and an expectation that all suppliers set public emissions reduction targets and report environmental data.

Despite these initiatives, Google expects Scope 3 to continue to grow for the foreseeable future, thanks in part to capital expenditures and investments to support AI-related growth initiatives.

Google’s Scope 2 emissions rose 37%, with the company citing data center electricity usage that outpaces its ability to run carbon-free energy projects, particularly in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific. Google parent Alphabet announced its 24/7 CFE ambition in 2020, aiming to run its entire business on carbon-free energy by 2030, matching electricity demand to CFE supply every hour of every day, in every region where the company operates.

The increase in Scope 2 emissions came despite the company accelerating its renewable energy purchases, with Google signing contracts to buy about 4 GW of clean energy capacity in 2023, more than in any previous year. While the company said it has met 100% of its energy consumption with renewable energy purchases since 2017, it noted a mismatch between its clean energy match and Scope 2 accounting, which caused the discrepancy.

The report also noted that Google is still in the early stages of its efforts to manage its residual emissions, with the company signing its first three agreements to collect carbon credits in 2023, and added that “we recognize that this is just the beginning and look forward to accelerating our carbon removal efforts in the years ahead.”

In a post announcing the report, Google’s chief sustainability officer, Kate Brandt, said:

“This year’s report shows significant progress and recognizes the important and difficult work ahead… Our journey toward a sustainable future is driven by innovation and collaboration. As we celebrate these milestones, we also recognize the challenges ahead and our commitment to transparency and improvement.”