Google's AI buildout drove 37% increase in electricity use in 2025

Google's annual environmental report shows its electricity consumption jumped 37% in 2025, driven almost entirely by the energy demands of building and operating AI infrastructure (data centers, GPUs, cooling). This undercuts Google's previous goal of running on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. The key tension: AI's rapid growth requires massive compute power, which is straining both power grids and corporate climate pledges. Google's main competitors (Microsoft, Amazon, Meta) face the same dilemma — their emissions are also rising sharply despite ambitious net-zero targets. The article highlights that efficiency gains in AI hardware are not keeping pace with the sheer scale of deployment.