đź•’ Last updated on September 5, 2025
A bold climate promise in 2020
In September 2020, Google’s chief proudly announced that the company would take on its most ambitious climate challenge yet. The pledge was simple but powerful: operate entirely on carbon-free energy every single hour of every single day by the year 2030.
At the time, the announcement was celebrated as a milestone in the corporate world. Many people believed it showed that one of the world’s biggest tech companies was ready to lead the fight against climate change. Google said the journey would not be easy, but it wanted to prove that a carbon-free future was possible and could be achieved quickly enough to make a real difference.
Over the years that followed, Google highlighted its goals in big headlines across its sustainability reports and official website. The words “net-zero emissions by 2030” became part of its identity, setting it apart from other tech companies. But five years later, things look very different.
Net-zero pledge removed from main site
In June 2024, Google’s sustainability page still displayed its net-zero commitment front and center. But just a month later, visitors noticed a big change. The section dedicated to net-zero had been deleted. Instead of a clear headline, the pledge was pushed into the appendix of the company’s latest environment report.
The page once titled “Operating Sustainably” was also rebranded simply as “Operations.” Instead of focusing on “net-zero carbon,” the new section highlighted “Energy” as its top priority. The message was clear: the ambitious net-zero promise no longer had the spotlight.
Google explained in its Environment 2025 report that the challenge had become much harder than expected. Running its massive data centers, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, now required far more energy. According to the report, achieving the 2030 goal would be “more complex and challenging” at every level, from local power grids to global energy supply.
Even though the wording on the website changed, the company has continued to say it is still committed to working toward net-zero by 2030. However, moving the pledge out of the main spotlight raised concerns about whether the goal was being quietly abandoned.
Rising energy needs driven by AI
The changes to Google’s website come at a time when the entire technology industry is facing an energy crunch. Big Tech companies are racing to build huge data centers to power artificial intelligence. These centers consume massive amounts of electricity every single day.
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Google’s own numbers show the scale of the problem. In 2024, the company’s electricity use went up by 26 percent, reaching 32.2 terawatt-hours. That is almost the same as the entire country of Ireland consumes in a year. A technical report released by Google revealed that even sending one message to its Gemini AI model uses 0.24 watt-hours of energy. That is about the same as leaving a small LED bulb on for more than two minutes.
Experts warn that the worldwide demand for AI will cause data center capacity to rise more than three times by 2030. This growth could drive around 70 percent of new electricity demand. In the United States alone, data centers could end up using almost 12 percent of the nation’s power supply. Today, they use just over five percent.
The pressure on power grids is so high that companies are competing for any available source of energy, whether renewable or fossil-based. While Google continues to sign deals for renewable power such as wind, hydro, and geothermal, its rising energy needs are making the road to net-zero more difficult.
Google’s environmental reports still mention progress in some areas. For example, the company reported a 12 percent reduction in data center energy emissions in 2024 by bringing more clean energy online. But despite these steps, the overall trend shows that rapid growth in AI is making earlier climate promises much harder to keep.