Tech giant Google, which has long been supportive of net-zero climate goals, recently conceded it’s no longer carbon neutral. It’s ditching carbon credits due to high energy demand that will come with data centers and Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

“We aim to neutralize our residual emissions with high-quality carbon removal credits by 2030, and to do so in a way that maximizes our positive impact on global decarbonization. This approach represents an evolution of our strategy: starting in 2023, we’re no longer maintaining operational carbon neutrality,” Google’s 2024 Environmental Report said. “We’re instead focusing on accelerating an array of carbon solutions and partnerships that will help us work toward our net-zero goal, and are aiming to play an important role in advancing the development and deployment of nature-based and technology-based carbon removal solutions required to mitigate climate change.” 

Google first claimed it reached carbon neutrality in 2007. The company, however, is still committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2030.

Well Fargo reported earlier this year that electricity demand for AI and data centers will grow 20% by 2030. And what will help ameliorate this demand? Natural gas and nuclear power—despite Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta committing to power data centers with renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

A CNBC report acknowledged solar and wind shortcomings as they “may be inadequate to meet the electricity load because they are dependent on variable weather…” Solar is only reliable for 24.9% of the year, compared to wind being reliable for just 35.4% of the year.

It’s projected that natural gas will supply 60% of required electricity supply for AI and data centers, while renewables will account for 40%. That isn’t good news for clean energy advocates who’ve gotten a boost by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act subsidies.

Net-zero proponents at major tech and financial companies, who frequently champion Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, are torn between charting a net-zero course or backtracking on these goals to power data centers and AI.

Even ESG’s most vocal proponent, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, conceded data companies “cannot have just this intermittent power like wind and solar,” arguing there must be “dispatchable power because you can’t turn off and on these data centers.”

By 2030, U.S. data centers could gobble up 9% of electricity generation. Internet searches powered by AI reportedly consume 10 times the energy of non-AI powered searches. One report suggests 80% of data center loads were distributed among 15 states—with Virginia and Texas leading the way. 

Net zero can’t satisfy these demands, which is why tech companies like Google are backpedaling—slowly but surely—on decarbonization.