On October 14, 2026, Politico reported that Google’s emissions rose 18% in 2025 compared with 2024, largely due to AI. Google executive Hanna told the outlet that the growth of AI-related electricity demand has made the company’s 2030 net-zero ambition more difficult.
Google prefers connections to the grid
Hanna said Google prefers grid-connected electricity service and builds its own energy systems only when another option is unavailable. She described co-location—placing power generation alongside a data center—as a response some operators use when grid congestion limits access to electricity.
The grid connection is one part of the infrastructure bill. NeoTeo’s earlier report on the public costs of AI data centers examines who may bear other costs associated with that infrastructure.
How Google says demand response works
Google reports that it has integrated 1 GW of demand-response capacity into long-term contracts with major U.S. utilities. Demand response allows data centers to reduce electricity use in certain locations when the grid needs flexibility. Google says flexible computing workloads can be shifted across times and locations; the 1 GW figure measures power capacity available for demand response, rather than energy saved over a year. (Google Data Centers: Energy)
Google Sustainability describes a program with the Grand River Dam Authority in Oklahoma. During Winter Storm Fern, an algorithm calculated hourly instructions to limit shiftable workloads at Google’s data center in Prior, Oklahoma.
What Google’s 2024 figures measure
Google’s 2025 Environmental Report says total company emissions rose 11% in 2024 compared with 2023, largely because of supply-chain emissions and business growth. Over that same period, data-center electricity demand increased 27%, while data-center operational energy emissions fell 12%. Google defines the latter as Scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions from data-center operations. These figures track different things: total company emissions, data-center electricity use, and emissions tied to data-center operations. (Google’s 2025 Environmental Report)
