Google’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by nearly 50 percent in the last five years due to the electricity needs of AI.
Transcript:
CONWAY GITTENS: Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
It was an early close on Wall Street with the trading floor staying dark Thursday for the Fourth of July holiday.
Ahead of that, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 set fresh all-time highs despite signs of economic softness. The massive services sector shrank in June, its biggest slump in four years, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management. Private hiring slowed for the third straight month in June, according to ADP, and a separate report from the Labor Department showed it’s taking longer for unemployed Americans to land a new gig. The stage is now set for the June jobs report, which will be released before markets reopen on Friday.
In other news: Google is having trouble reaching its carbon neutrality targets – and it’s pinning the blame on the rise of artificial intelligence. The massive computers behind AI suck up a lot of power, and that’s causing a spike in Google’s carbon footprint.
Google revealed in its environmental report that its greenhouse gas emissions rose 13 percent in 2023 compared to the prior year – and spiked 48 percent since 2019.
Google’s efforts to become carbon neutral by 2030 are now in jeopardy. Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt said in the report: “We face significant challenges that we’re actively working through,” which she blamed on “increased data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions.”
Alphabet-owned Google says it is making progress in using alternative energy sources in the U.S. and Europe, but finding clean energy in other parts of the world is proving to be difficult.
That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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