Since our earliest days, we’ve been on an bold journey to assist construct a extra sustainable future. An necessary a part of that’s sharing what we’ve discovered alongside the way in which and being clear about our progress and our challenges. That is very true given the urgency of the second — a time when technological development is converging with the necessity for power transition.
Our annual Environmental Report gives a deep dive into our efforts to harness expertise — notably AI — to drive optimistic environmental change and function our enterprise sustainably.
Our method to enabling AI for sustainability
We all know that scaling AI and utilizing it to speed up local weather motion is simply as essential as addressing the environmental affect related to it.
To assist decrease our environmental footprint, we’ve constructed world-leading environment friendly infrastructure for the AI period, together with Trillium, our sixth-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), which is over 67% extra energy-efficient than TPU v5e. We’ve additionally recognized examined practices that our analysis reveals can, when used collectively, scale back the power required to coach an AI mannequin by as much as 100 occasions and scale back related emissions by as much as 1,000 occasions. All these practices are used at Google at the moment.
We try to construct the world’s most energy-efficient computing infrastructure, supported by accountable water use practices and a dedication to minimizing waste. A Google-owned and -operated knowledge heart is, on common, roughly 1.8 occasions as power environment friendly as a typical enterprise knowledge heart. In 2023, the common annual energy utilization effectiveness for our knowledge facilities was 1.10 in contrast with the trade common of 1.58, which means that our knowledge facilities used about 5.8 occasions much less overhead power for each unit of IT gear power.
Final 12 months we launched a water threat framework to additional determine climate-conscious cooling options that contemplate carbon-free power (CFE) availability, watershed well being and future water wants. We see our rising infrastructure as a possibility to drive the improvements and investments wanted to energy a low-carbon financial system.
AI holds immense promise to drive local weather motion. In truth, AI has the potential to assist mitigate 5–10% of worldwide greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions by 2030. We’re advancing local weather motion by AI in three key areas:
- Organizing info: Gas-efficient routing makes use of AI to investigate site visitors, terrain and a automobile’s engine to counsel essentially the most environment friendly route. It’s estimated to have helped allow greater than 2.9 million metric tons of GHG emissions reductions for the reason that function launched in late 2021 to the tip of 2023 — that’s equal to taking roughly 650,000 fuel-based automobiles off the highway for a 12 months.
- Enhancing prediction: We constructed a breakthrough world hydrological AI mannequin and mixed it with publicly out there knowledge sources to foretell floods as much as seven days upfront in over 80 nations. This covers territories the place greater than 460 million individuals dwell, serving to these communities put together for and reply to riverine floods.
- Higher optimization: Inexperienced Gentle is an AI-based device that helps metropolis site visitors engineers optimize the timing of site visitors lights to scale back stop-and-go site visitors and gas consumption. This expertise has the potential for as much as 30% discount in stops and as much as 10% discount in emissions at intersections.
By our merchandise, we purpose to assist people, cities and different companions collectively scale back 1 gigaton of carbon equal emissions yearly by 2030, and we’ll proceed to develop applied sciences that assist communities adapt to the consequences of local weather change.
How we’re driving sustainability throughout our operations
In 2017, Google grew to become the primary main firm to match 100% of our annual electrical energy consumption on a world foundation with renewable power, which we’ve achieved yearly since. Constructing on our first 20 years of progress, in 2020 we launched our third decade of local weather motion — our most bold but.
We’ve got a daring aim to achieve net-zero emissions throughout all of our operations and worth chain by 2030, supported by a aim to run on 24/7 CFE on each grid the place we function. As well as, we’re working to advance water stewardship, construct a round financial system, and restore and improve nature and biodiversity. This 12 months’s report reveals how we proceed to make progress throughout all of those areas:
- 10 of our grid areas achieved no less than 90% CFE, and even with our complete electrical energy load growing throughout our knowledge facilities, we maintained a world common of 64% CFE. We additionally celebrated a first-of-a-kind enhanced geothermal undertaking now delivering CFE to the grid.
- We signed contracts to buy roughly 4 gigawatts of fresh power technology capability in areas resembling Texas, Belgium and Australia — greater than in any prior 12 months.
- We applied a Google Renewable Power Addendum that asks our largest {hardware} manufacturing suppliers, primarily based on spend, to decide to reaching a 100% renewable power match by 2029.
- Our water stewardship initiatives replenished an estimated 1 billion gallons of water, which represents 18% of our 2023 freshwater consumption and tripled our replenishment progress of 6% in 2022.
- For brand spanking new Google merchandise launched and manufactured in 2023, our packaging was no less than 99% plastic-free. Plus, packaging for our Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Professional makes use of 100% plastic-free supplies.
Our ongoing work to construct a sustainable future
Despite the progress we’re making, we face important challenges that we’re actively working by. In 2023, our complete GHG emissions elevated 13% year-over-year, primarily pushed by elevated knowledge heart power consumption and provide chain emissions.
Whereas we superior clear power on most of the grids the place we function, there are nonetheless some hard-to-decarbonize areas like Asia-Pacific the place CFE is not available. As well as, we regularly see longer lead occasions between preliminary investments and building of fresh power initiatives and the ensuing GHG reductions from them. To proceed to drive progress towards a low-carbon financial system, we most not too long ago launched a clear transition charge that brings clients and utilities collectively to drive new clear power initiatives within the U.S., and we unveiled an funding to allow 1 gigawatt of latest photo voltaic capability in Taiwan.
A sustainable future requires systems-level change, robust authorities insurance policies and new applied sciences. We’re dedicated to collaboration and enjoying our half, each step of the way in which.
