Google says it is no longer carbon neutral, aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2030

Google is “focused on accelerating a range of carbon solutions and partnerships” to help it “work towards” achieving its net-zero emissions goal by 2030.

MANILA, Philippines — Google will no longer be carbon neutral, according to its 2024 environmental report on July 2. Instead of buying cheap carbon offsets, the company said it plans to invest heavily in high-quality offsets, contradicting its stance on carbon neutrality since 2007.

The report said Google will “focus on accelerating the implementation of a range of carbon solutions and partnerships” to help the company “work towards” achieving its net-zero emissions goal by 2030.

According to TechTarget, carbon offsetting refers to reducing carbon emissions elsewhere to compensate for carbon emissions. This typically happens when an organization buys a credit. The broker calculates the organization’s emissions in order to charge it a certain amount of money, which is then used to invest in green technologies.

Carbon neutrality typically involves having the same number of offset credits and a carbon footprint. Google reportedly abandoned carbon neutrality to meet a 2030 deadline.

In a Bloomberg report dated Monday, July 8, Fabiola De Simone, a policy expert at Carbon Market Watch, said the offsetting practice is flawed. “Even if emissions can be demonstrably removed, while they were in the atmosphere, they still caused harm,” she said.

There is speculation that Google’s sudden change in stance on carbon neutrality is a reaction to the introduction of artificial intelligence.

At the same time, Google announced in the same report its struggles to reduce emissions from integrating AI into its infrastructure. The company saw a 13% increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, making the 2030 goal look more difficult to achieve.

This story is consistent with other empirical findings on AI energy consumption, presented in reports such as the Goldman Sachs report, which found that the technology places a large energy burden on data centers. Rav Ayag/Rappler.com

Rav Ayag is a Tech and Features Intern at Rappler. He is a new senior at Ateneo de Manila University in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Creative Writing program.

This story was fact-checked by a reporter and editor.