14.3 million tonnes, 48 per cent above 2019
On 2 July 2024 Google reported its 2023 emissions at 14.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent - 13 per cent above the year before and 48 per cent above the 2019 base year. The report names the main causes as data centre electricity use and supply chain emissions. The data centres themselves consumed over 24 TWh, 17 per cent more than the year before.
Why it matters
Six weeks after Microsoft, the second large operator named the same rise and the same cause. Two independent sets of accounts pointing at data centres turned a single case into a property of the industry - and cast doubt on the 2030 net-zero date both companies had announced.
The share of carbon-free energy across data centres and offices is approximately 64 per cent on a global average. The data centres consumed 6.1 billion gallons of water, 17 per cent more than the year before: the same rate as the electricity. Google's fleet average efficiency coefficient for 2023 is 1.10 against an industry average of 1.58. That is the same industry figure the 2019 calculation used, so the gap between this fleet and the industry has not moved in five years. What the record does not claim. The report says over 24 TWh, not 25. And that is electricity the data centres consumed, not the volume of carbon-free energy purchased: two different quantities that are easy to merge into one.