Google announced that it has implemented a new program, Google Renewable Energy Addendum, asking its largest hardware manufacturing suppliers to commit to achieving a 100% renewable energy match by 2029, marking one of the company’s initiatives to address its carbon footprint, which continues to increase, driven by its value chain and data center growth.

The new initiative was announced with the release of Google’s 2024 Environmental Report, highlighting the company’s environmental initiatives, and its progress towards its sustainability goals.

Google’s environmental targets include 2030 goals to reach net zero emissions across its operations and value chain, and to reduce 50% of its combined Scope 1, 2, and 3 absolute emissions, on a 2019 basis, with investments in nature-based and technology-based carbon removal solutions to neutralize remaining emissions.

Despite the company’s target’s however, the report indicated that emissions have continued to increase, rising by 13% in 2023 alone, and up 48% compared to its 2019 base year.

According to the report, Scope 3, or value chain emissions, account for the bulk of the company’s carbon footprint, representing 75% of total emissions, and Scope 2, primarily consisting of purchased electricity, represents 24%.

In 2023, Google’s Scope 3 emissions increased by 8%, with most of the increased driven by purchased goods and services, upstream emissions from purchased electricity, and data center construction. In addition to the new Renewable Energy Addendum, Google outlined some of its initiatives aimed at addressing Scope 3 emissions, including its supplier code of conduct which states that suppliers should seek to minimize energy consumption and GHG emissions, and an expectation for all suppliers to set public emissions reduction targets and to report environmental data.

Despite these initiatives, Google said that it anticipates that Scope 3 will continue to rise near term, driven partly by capex and investments to support growth initiatives related to AI.

Google’s Scope 2 emissions increased by 37%, with the company citing data center electricity consumption outpacing its ability to bring carbon free energy projects online, particularly in the U.S. and Asia Pacific. Google parent Alphabet announced a 24/7 CFE ambition in 2020, aiming to run its entire business on carbon-free energy by 2030, matching electricity demand with CFE supply every hour of every day, in every region where the company operates.

The increase in Scope 2 emissions occurred despite an acceleration by the company in its renewable energy procurement, with Google signing contracts to purchase approximately 4 GW of clean energy generation capacity in 2023, more than in any prior year. While the company said that it has matched 100% of its energy consumption with renewable energy purchases since 2017, it noted a mismatch between its clean energy matching and Scope 2 accounting driving the discrepancy.

The report also noted that Google is still at the early stages of its efforts to manage residual emissions, with the company signing its first three carbon credit offtake deals in 2023, and adding that “we recognize that this is just the beginning, and we look forward to accelerating our carbon removal efforts in the years to come.”

In a post announcing the release of the report, Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt said:

“This year’s report showcases significant advancements and acknowledges the important and challenging work ahead… Our journey toward a sustainable future is driven by innovation and collaboration. While we celebrate these milestones, we also recognize the challenges ahead and our commitment to transparency and improvement.”