Google has decided to meet the demands made by 2000 employees to go carbon-free and overcome the difficulties in operation.
On September 14, 2020, Google, Inc., a U.S.-based tech giant, announced to transform its all operations carbon-free by 2030. Although Google has been investing in renewable energy project they still are reliant on non-renewable resources. Since 2007, Google has been carbon neutral each year. However, Google released 4.9 million metric ton of greenhouse gases alone in 2018.
“We have until 2030 to chart a sustainable cause for our planet or face the worst consequences of climate change,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a video released today.
“We are already feeling those impacts today from historic wildfires in the US to devastating flooding in many parts of the world.”
Google decided to take this pledge as its HQ in California continues to burn and choke in smoke due to climate change. Google has decided to fulfill the demand made by 2,000 employees to go zero carbon emission by 2030 since the workers joined the global climate strike in September. Other tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon haven’t been able to meet those demands. However, Microsoft announced in January that they will remove all the carbon pollution by 2050 which is indeed more difficult than what Google has achieved.
Google has to overcome many difficulties to run its operations carbon-free as they might need more and more batteries to store and supply energy when the sun doesn’t shine and wind come to halt. Google is also trying to use AI to meet the electrical demand and also to use energy efficiently. Once the data center of Google is ready to be carbon-free, every task can be done with the help of clean energy.