Google announced it is launching a new program, the Google Renewable Energy Annex, asking its largest hardware suppliers to commit to achieving a 100% renewable energy target by 2029, hitting marks one of the company's initiatives to address its growing carbon footprint, driven by value chain and data center growth.
This new initiative was announced alongside the release of Google's 2024 Environmental Report, highlighting the company's environmental initiatives and progress toward its sustainability goals.
Google's environmental goals include 2030 targets to achieve net zero emissions across its operations and value chain, and reduce absolute Scope 0 emissions by 50%. , 1 and 2, based on 3, with investments in technology-based and natural solutions to neutralize remaining emissions.
However, contrary to the company's goals, the report shows that emissions continue to rise, up 13% in 2023 alone and up 48% compared to the 2019 base year.
According to the report, Scope 3, or emissions from the value chain, accounts for the majority of the company's carbon emissions, accounting for 75% of total emissions, and Scope 2, which mainly covers electricity costs, accounting for 24%.
In 2023, Google's Scope 3 emissions increased 8%, with the majority due to goods and services, increased emissions from purchased power, and data center construction. In addition to the new Renewable Energy Addendum, Google outlined a number of initiatives to address Scope 3 emissions, including a supplier code of conduct that states that suppliers should seek to minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and expect all suppliers to set public emissions reduction targets and report environmental data.
Despite these initiatives, Google said it anticipates that Scope 3 will continue to grow in the near term, in part due to investing in and supporting AI-related growth initiatives.
Google's Scope 2 emissions increased 37%, with the company saying data center electricity consumption exceeds its ability to put carbon-free energy projects into action, especially in the US and Asia Pacific. Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced its 24/7 CFE ambitions in 2020, aiming to run its entire business on carbon-free energy by 2030, bridging electricity demand with CFE supplies every hour of every day, in every region where the company operates.
The increase in Scope 2 emissions comes despite the company's push to buy renewable energy, with Google signing contracts to buy about 4 GW of clean generation capacity by 2023, more than in any previous year. . While the company says it has balanced 100% of its energy consumption with renewable energy purchases since 2017, it also sees a lack of balance between clean energy and Scope 2 calculations cause the difference.
The report also points out that Google is still in the early stages of its efforts to manage excess emissions, with the company having signed its first three carbon credit purchase agreements by 2023, adding “we recognize recognize that this is just the beginning and we look forward to accelerating our decarbonization efforts in the coming years.”
In a post announcing the release of the report, Google Sustainability Director Kate Brandt said:
“This year's report shows significant progress and highlights the important and challenging work ahead… Our journey towards a sustainable future is driven by innovation and collaboration. While marking these important milestones, we also recognize the challenges ahead and our commitment to transparency and innovation.”
*Source: ESG Today