Google’s electricity consumption jumped 37% in 2025 — the biggest single-year increase in the company’s history. The culprit: AI data center construction that keeps accelerating.
The company’s latest sustainability report shows total electricity use has more than doubled since 2019. Google Cloud, YouTube streaming, and AI infrastructure are all eating power. The 37% jump follows a 27% increase in 2024. This is a trend, not a blip.
To Google’s credit, they’ve matched 100% of that consumption with renewable energy purchases for nine consecutive years. In 2025, they signed agreements for 12 gigawatts of net-new clean energy — their biggest annual total yet.
But there’s a catch. Google acknowledged that claiming 100% renewable power doesn’t mean every data center runs on clean energy 24/7. Local grids still burn fossil fuels. The company is pushing toward “24/7 carbon-free energy” — a more honest accounting that tracks hourly and local clean energy matching.
Supply chain emissions tell a different story. Those grew 25% thanks to Asia-Pacific manufacturers running on grids that still lack carbon-free energy.
Cleanview CEO Michael Thomas notes Google has become one of the world’s largest clean energy investors, but their strategy now covers everything — renewables, advanced nuclear, fusion, geothermal, long-duration storage, and even natural gas with carbon capture. A planned Texas data center campus might draw from a 933-megawatt natural gas plant. No carbon capture attached.
Google says no agreement has been signed for that plant yet. The path to net-zero keeps getting harder as AI keeps growing.
