The company’s overall carbon footprint in 2025 amounted to approximately 14.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Comparing this to emissions by country, Google ranks about 100th between Cote d’Ivoire and Panama.
carbon free energy target
Every year, Google purchases 100% of its electricity consumption from renewable energy across its global operations, for the ninth year in a row. In 2025, the company’s purchase agreements, which included 12 gigawatts of “net new clean energy,” represented the largest annual total in the company’s history.
But it also acknowledged that companies can simply claim to rely on 100 percent renewable electricity while using fossil fuel-generated electricity on local grids. Google therefore says it has refocused its “24/7 carbon-free energy goal” into a more detailed calculation by focusing on certificates that represent temporal and regional alignment of clean energy.
To its credit, Google has become one of the world’s largest investors in clean energy technology, according to Michael Thomas, CEO of the Cleanview data platform, which tracks renewable energy and data center projects. But his analysis of Google’s data center power strategy suggests the company has pivoted to an “Everywhere All at Once” strategy that encompasses everything from renewable energy to natural gas power generation.
Google’s wide-ranging investments include efforts to commercialize “advanced nuclear power, fusion energy, enhanced geothermal, long-term energy storage, and natural gas with carbon capture and storage.” The company’s sustainability report highlights that it is expected to invest more than $3.8 billion and bring 7.5 gigawatts of clean energy online from 2010 to 2025.
However, Thomas noted in an April 2026 newsletter that Google’s $40 billion investment in Texas data centers includes a campus that could be powered by a 933-megawatt natural gas power plant without carbon capture technology. Turbines at natural gas plants can produce 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.
A Google spokesperson told Thomas that the company has not yet signed a contract for how much power Google’s data centers will draw from natural gas plants.
This article was updated on July 2, 2026 to add context about Google’s total carbon footprint and emissions.
