Google 2020 Environmental Report

Innovating on decades of climate action

Sustainability is one of the core values at Google, and they have been a leader on climate change since the company’s founding more than 20 years ago. In September 2020, they launched their third decade of climate action with a new set of audacious commitments. By 2030, they aim to become the first major company to: operate on carbon-free energy 24/7/365, invest to enable 5 gigawatts of new carbon-free energy across their key manufacturing regions, and help more than 500 cities and local governments reduce an aggregate of 1 gigaton of carbon emissions annually.

And, because being helpful to their users is at the heart of everything they do, they set a near-term goal to offer 1 billion people new ways to live more sustainably via their core products by 2022. Their 2020 environmental report covers progress in the 2019 fiscal year as well as some notable achievements from 2020.

Delivered 7x as much computing power with the same amount of electrical power compared to 5 years ago
Reached a new record low of 1.10 average annual PUE for global data centers
19% of components used for server upgrades were refurbished inventory
A Google data center is 2x as energy efficient as a typical enterprise data center
86% decrease in carbon intensity per unit of revenue since 2011
98% GHG emissions reduction for businesses using Gmail services
Invested $2.7 billion in commitments from 2010 to 2019 in renewable energy projects
22 million gallons of water use avoided at Bay Area offices
0 net carbon emissions for all products in Google Cloud‍
100% of shipments of Made by Google products are carbon neutral

90%

of waste from global data center operations in 2019 was diverted away from landfills

9.9M

components were resold into the secondary market for reuse by other organizations

We’re proud of what we’ve achieved in our first two decades, and as we embark on our next decade of climate action, we’re energized to help move the world closer to a carbon-free future for all.

Ruth Porat

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Google is driving positive environmental impact throughout their value chain in key ways. They’ve focused on designing efficient data centers that maximize efficient use of energy, water, and materials—as well as advancing carbon-free energy by purchasing renewable energy for operations to help drive wide-scale adoption of clean energy. When it comes to their offices, they are creating sustainable workplaces to enable healthy spaces and places by addressing carbon impacts, advancing circularity, and cultivating healthy indoor and outdoor environments.

As for the technology side, they continue to focus on building better devices and services to maximize recycled content wherever possible, neutralizing carbon emissions from shipping Made by Google hardware products to and from their direct customers, and helping consumers save energy in their homes. Google is also developing technologies to help measure and monitor the planet in real time, using artificial intelligence to address environmental challenges, as well as building tools that empower individuals to reduce their personal environmental impact.

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We are focusing on our own operations as well as how we can support our partners and consumers globally.

Urs Hölzle

Senior Vice President of Technical Infrastructure