A new report from the Kairos Fellowship organization alleges that Google is significantly contributing to the climate crisis.
The report primarily attributes this to the rapid expansion of Google’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and the company’s perceived lack of environmental transparency.
Titled “Google’s Eco-Failures,” the document highlights a staggering 1,515 percent increase in the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions between 2010 and 2024, based on Google’s own published data. The authors claim that the tech giant only reports its direct emissions (Scope 1), which they state represent a mere 0.31 percent of its true environmental footprint.
The report also condemns an 820 percent increase in emissions tied to purchased electricity (Scope 2). This electricity is predominantly used to power the massive data centers that support generative AI. This growth model is deemed unsustainable, also leading to excessive water consumption. Water usage reportedly surged from 2.5 billion to 11 billion gallons between 2016 and 2024 – an amount equivalent to the annual domestic consumption of 750,000 households.
Furthermore, the report criticizes Google’s reliance on what it terms “carbon-free” technologies, such as small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The authors argue these are speculative solutions that are slow to deploy and pose significant environmental risks.
“Behind carefully controlled communication, Google masks a growing and dangerous ecological footprint,” stated Nicole Sugerman, co-author of the report. According to Sugerman, the company “is banking on polluting technologies while fueling disinformation and large-scale surveillance.” The Kairos Fellowship urges Google to drastically reduce its energy, fossil, and water consumption, cease promoting nuclear energy, and ensure complete transparency regarding its environmental impact.
The organization underscores the urgent need to re-envision technological development to serve environmental justice, human rights, and community health, rather than exclusively benefiting large corporations.
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