Driving sustainability through innovation and AI

Looking at how Google is tackling emissions and powering data centres more efficiently at Carbon Crunch 2025 in London demonstrated the power of thinking differently.

Google’s ambitious climate strategy is one that focuses not only on reducing its own environmental impact but also on enabling others to meet their sustainability goals. Speaking at Carbon Crunch 2025 in London, Google director of sustainability for Europe, Middle East and Africa Adam Elman outlined how the tech giant views its role as extending beyond its own decarbonisation.

“Since Google's early days, we've been on an ambitious sustainability journey,” Adam said. “We’re trying to help build a more sustainable future for everyone and remain committed to partnering and playing our part every step of the way.”

Google’s strategy is built on two pillars, improving the sustainability of its own operations and using its technology to support others. “Our mission is to organise the world's information, making it universally accessible and useful for everyone,” Adam explained. “This is also how we think about sustainability.”

The company has set a wide range of sustainability goals covering climate, energy, water, waste and materials. At the heart of this strategy are Google’s “climate moonshots” including a target to reach net zero emissions across its operations and value chain.

24/7 carbon-free energy

Clean energy is a cornerstone of Google’s approach. The company is pursuing “24/7 carbon-free energy” achieved through the efficiency of its own operations, particularly its data centres, and clean energy sourcing for its supply chain. “We’ve become one of the largest corporate buyers of clean energy globally,” Adam said.

According to Adam, Google now operates some of the most energy-efficient data centres in the world. He said: “The main measure of data centre efficiency is power usage effectiveness – PUE – and our PUE is 1.09, the lowest it's ever been. For perspective, the industry average is about 1.56. And compared to five years ago, we now have six times as much computing power for the same amount of electricity.”

Carbon-intelligent load shifting

Google’s clean energy ambition includes sourcing clean energy that is matched both locally to where it is needed and with hourly consumption.

To meet future demand, Google is investing in advanced technologies including geothermal, advanced nuclear and fusion. “We’re very invested in enhanced geothermal,” Adam said. The company has also signed the first corporate deal for small modular reactors (SMRs) with the first expected online by 2030.

“We’re investing in fusion,” he added. “This is not a technology that is going to power operations this week, next week or necessarily next year, but we think it's important we make bets on future technologies.”

Google is using AI to optimise energy use, particularly through what Adam called carbon-intelligent load shifting, which uses AI to predict clean energy availability and shift computing tasks around the world, accordingly.

“It uses AI to look at what energy is going to be created and generated on the grid tomorrow, where in the world and at what times,” Adam explained. “It then looks at what computer jobs need to run at different times of the day and will automatically shift those jobs around the world to the times and locations where grids are cleanest.”

Tangible progress

Efforts made by Google to cut operational carbon are already showing results. In 2024, despite a 27% increase in electricity use driven by the growth of the AI economy, Google successfully reduced energy-related emissions from its data centres by 12%.

“We’re really starting to break that gap between growth and impact towards our target,” Adam concluded, underscoring the tangible progress being made through innovation, investment and a commitment to sustainability at scale.

Adam urged the infrastructure and built environment sector to use technology, including AI, to look at where operational carbon is being generated differently and seeks new ways to reduce it. “Google has seen improvements by working with our supply chain to put the right policy framework in place to enable this,” he said. “Partnership and collaboration are essential.”