A letter from Amin Vahdat, Ben Gomes, James Manyika, Kate Brandt, and Ruth Porat
Download the full paper here.
At Google, we are focused on developing AI that assists, empowers, and inspires people in almost every field of human endeavor. Our goal is to improve the lives of as many people as possible, and we believe that AI can unlock transformational benefits across four key areas: for people, the economy, science, and society.
We’re making progress in all these areas, ranging from supporting small and large businesses from every U.S. state that are using AI to grow, improving health diagnostics such as breast cancer screening, accelerating research in multiple fields of science, to helping children improve their reading skills, and so much more.
We also believe that AI can help address some of humanity's biggest challenges, including protecting the planet we all call home and the people who live on it. We see three primary avenues for environmental and societal impact:
-
Mitigating carbon emissions by unlocking new efficiencies in high-impact sectors and activities;
-
Transforming the energy ecosystem by accelerating the development of next-generation clean sources, making long-term bets on technologies like fusion, and optimizing the grid; and
-
Harnessing AI for climate adaptation and ecosystem protection, from strengthening crisis resilience against natural disasters to monitoring biodiversity.
At the same time, we recognize that AI’s growth creates its own new environmental challenges that need to be managed responsibly. Realizing the benefits of AI requires investing in data centers, which increase demand for electricity and water. Pursuing AI responsibly means understanding and mitigating these challenges.
At Google, we’re taking a deliberate, full-stack approach to manage AI’s growth responsibly and minimize its environmental footprint. This means we’re focused on making our entire AI stack (including applications, models, software, and hardware) more efficient, investing in and quickly scaling new clean energy sources, and deploying climate-conscious, locally tailored water stewardship practices. Moreover, we’re committed to ensuring that our energy use doesn’t impact people in the communities in which we operate. In early 2026, we signed the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, demonstrating our confidence that energy growth and ratepayer protection can go hand-in-hand.
As an information and computer science company focused on innovation and breakthrough progress, we have ambitious moonshot goals for the impact we hope to achieve. While we’re excited about our progress in minimizing AI’s footprint and maximizing its positive environmental impact, success is not guaranteed and no company alone can ensure that AI delivers a net-positive future for the planet. Turning this potential into a reality will require focused efforts by Google and other AI developers, as well as broader collective efforts that bring together researchers, developers, governments, and local communities to manage risks and scale new solutions.
Ultimately, we believe that if AI is developed and harnessed responsibly and collaboratively, its environmental benefits will vastly outweigh its costs. From making industries more efficient, to monitoring air quality, to protecting communities from natural disasters—AI can serve as a force multiplier in addressing some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
This paper details our approach to minimizing AI’s footprint while maximizing its positive impact on the environment and the people and communities who depend on it.