Google will reach 100% renewable energy for its global operations—including both data centers and offices, according to its latest 2017 environmental report.
The report claims, “This shift in our energy strategy didn’t just significantly reduce our environmental impact. By pioneering new energy purchasing models that others can follow, we’ve helped drive widescale global adoption of clean energy.”
The company reaffirmed its commitment to renewable energy saying, “We’re more committed than ever to the environment, and we believe that businesses, governments, and citizens all have critical roles to play in ensuring that we have clean air, water, soil, and healthy forests.”
In keeping with that commitment, the company has invested nearly $2.5 billion in renewable energy projects with a total combined capacity of 3.7GW since 2010.
Google has also begun a new initiative, equipping Google Street View cars with air quality sensors, creating that it says is one of the largest air quality data sets ever published.
Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Technical Infrastructure, Google Cloud, said, “Google is moving in the right direction when it comes to environmental stewardship—but there’s a lot more work to do. We’re looking ahead at the next 10 years of decreasing our impact on the earth while building technology that helps as many people as possible.”