AI’s Arrival and Popularity Complicate Big Tech's Climate Goals

In 2022, Google was confident that by 2030 it would power all operations with electricity generated from clean sources, including wind and solar power, and remove as much pollution as it produced. Today, it calls those goals a "moonshot." Microsoft says it is still aiming to remove more carbon than it creates by 2030 but now describes the effort as "a marathon, not a sprint.

The race to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) is complicating tech companies' commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, most of which come from the burning of gas, oil and coal and drive climate change. They say they must be flexible as they rush to build sprawling data centers that can consume more power than entire cities.

"Even if they haven't officially revised their goals, they are starting to acknowledge that, 'Yeah, we're maybe not on track,'" said Patrick Huang, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

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