How Can Google Use AI For Sustainability & Carbon Reduction?

AI can be a key player in addressing global emission outputs, as well as mitigation.

“We’re seeking to make AI helpful for everyone, including the planet, to improve the lives of as many people as possible,” writes Google.

In 2024 alone, five of Google’s products, such as fuel-efficient routing in Google Maps and Green Light, enabled others to collectively reduce an estimated 26 million metric tons of GHG emissions (tCO₂e).

Adam Elman, Director of Sustainability EMEA at Google, is helping the company to reduce emissions, protect the planet and sustainably use AI.

To highlight the importance of how AI can be used in sustainability, Adam is speaking on the AI in Sustainability panel at Sustainability LIVE: The Net Zero Summit.

About Adam Elman

Adam is a seasoned sustainability leader with more than 19 years of experience driving transformational change across some of the world’s most influential companies. 

Currently, he serves as the Director of Sustainability EMEA for Google, where he operates at the intersection of the physical, digital and natural worlds, coordinating efforts across real estate, supply chains, data centers and products to strategically advance sustainability. 

Prior to Google, Adam held senior sustainability roles at Amazon, Marks & Spencer and Klöckner Pentaplast, leading innovative strategies that improved ESG performance. 

A Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of both The Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals and Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, he is also an Executive Fellow at King's College London Business School. 

“I've been working in the sustainability space for coming up to two decades now,” Adam told Sustainability Magazine in a 2024 during a Q&A.

“The exciting thing for me is that the sustainability space has really moved from what used to be a small team on the side of the business to really being integrated. 

“Businesses are really recognising that not only do they need to do this because there's regulation, but actually there's real opportunity here and it's the right thing to do.”

Google’s AI use

At Google, AI is being leveraged as a powerful tool to drive sustainability across multiple sectors, from energy and transportation to climate resilience. 

Projects like Green Light optimise traffic signals in cities, reducing stop-and-go driving and lowering intersection emissions by more than 10%, while fuel-efficient routing in Google Maps are helping to reduce emissions. 

AI is also tackling aviation’s climate impact through Project Contrails, where flight routing informed by satellite data and machine learning has reduced contrail formation by 54%. 

Beyond transportation, AI powers tools like the Solar Savings Estimator, which models rooftop solar potential and Flood Forecasting systems, which provide early warnings to more than 700 million people globally. 

Also from Google, is NeuralGCM, a hybrid AI-physics model that significantly improves global precipitation simulations by training its neural network directly on satellite-based observations.

It more accurately captures the daily precipitation cycle, extreme rainfall events and multi-decadal climate patterns than traditional models, helping improve weather forecasts, climate simulations and planning for floods, agriculture and water resources.

By combining machine learning with physics, NeuralGCM offers a faster, more precise and open-source tool for both short and long-term precipitation prediction.

Other initiatives, including FireSat for wildfire monitoring and the Heat Resilience tool for urban cooling strategies, demonstrate how AI can protect communities while advancing sustainability goals. 

By integrating AI into environmental reporting through the AI Playbook for Sustainability Reporting, Google not only measures its own progress but also shares frameworks and tools to help other organizations strategically scale sustainability impact. 

These innovations highlight how digital intelligence can intersect with the physical and natural world to create measurable environmental benefits.

AI in sustainability

Adam Elman will be speaking at AI in Sustainability panel at Sustainability LIVE: The Net Zero Summit in London.

His session is set to explore how AI is transforming sustainability across industries, highlighting its role in improving emissions tracking, energy optimisation, climate modeling and sustainable supply chains.

During his talk, Adam can help to address both the opportunities and challenges of using AI to advance sustainability, showing how intelligent systems can increase accuracy, efficiency and impact while supporting responsible environmental decision-making.

Attendees can gain insights into initiatives such as AI-powered traffic optimisation, fuel-efficient routing, contrail reduction and solar potential assessment and learn how AI can complement traditional sustainability strategies to accelerate climate action.

Adam is set to be joined by fellow leaders in AI, sustainability and climate science to discuss embedding intelligent technologies into operational workflows, enhancing both environmental performance and societal benefits.

Join us at Sustainability LIVE: The Net Zero Summit on 4–5 March 2026 for this keynote and in-depth discussions on leveraging AI to drive innovation in climate and sustainability initiatives.

Secure your ticket now.