Google's power-hungry AI expansion pushed electricity use up 37% in 2025

Google's artificial intelligence ambitions drove a sharp increase in power consumption during 2025, with the company's electricity use climbing 37 percent. Yet the expansion also exposed growing tensions between its climate commitments and the energy demands of training and running large-scale AI systems.

The renewable energy claim—and its limits#

The company has maintained a practice of matching its entire global electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases for nine consecutive years. In 2025 alone, Google signed agreements to procure 12 gigawatts of "net-new clean energy"—the largest annual haul in its history.

However, there's a catch: matching electricity consumption with renewable energy contracts doesn't guarantee that a facility actually uses carbon-free power in real time. The company acknowledges this gap and says it is now emphasizing a "24/7 carbon-free energy ambition" that would involve more granular accounting—tracking hourly and location-specific matches between clean energy certificates and actual power draw.

Supply chain emissions tell a different story. Emissions from contracted manufacturers and suppliers rose 25 percent, driven largely by manufacturing hubs in Asia-Pacific where electrical grids still depend heavily on fossil fuels.

Where Google is placing its bets#

Google has become one of the world's largest clean energy investors, backing everything from advanced nuclear and fusion technology to enhanced geothermal systems and long-duration storage. Between 2010 and 2025, the company invested more than $3.8 billion in projects expected to deliver 7.5 gigawatts of clean generation capacity.

Yet according to analysis by Michael Thomas, CEO of the Cleanview data platform that studies renewable energy infrastructure, Google has also adopted what he describes as an "Everything Everywhere All at Once" approach—simultaneously pursing renewables, natural gas generation, carbon capture technology, and other energy sources to power its sprawling data center network.

The natural gas tension#

The tension between Google's climate positioning and its infrastructure needs became more visible in 2026. Thomas reported on a $40 billion Texas data center investment by Google that includes plans for a facility potentially powered by a 933-megawatt natural gas plant—without carbon capture systems. Such a plant could emit roughly 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.