By Leah Modica

With over 100,000 employees, 70 world wide offices, and 2.5 billion android users, Google has reached sustainable goals no other company ever has before. Google has been Carbon Neutral since 2007, with plans to operate on Carbon-Free energy in 2030. 

In September of 2020, Google formally released their Sustainability Report to the public. Within it’s 26 pages, the company explained their completed feats as well as the steps they are taking to reach their carbon-free goal. 

They were able to secure the spot for carbon-neutrality by taking the “approach focused on three key levers: driving energy efficiency, procuring renewable energy, and purchasing high-quality carbon offsets for all the emissions that we can’t yet eliminate, like employee travel and commuting.” 

Being carbon neutral means that they have been producing as much renewable energy as they have been utilizing. You may be wondering about their sustainable efforts prior to 2007; “As of today, we’ve procured enough high-quality carbon offsets to neutralize all of our emissions since our founding.”

They are able to produce renewable energy through their vast solar farms. Alabama and Tennessee house their two largest solar farms, which produce a “combined total of 413 megawatts of electricity at its peak” (enough to power 413,000 homes). 

Google has also taken monetary sustainable actions in issuing $5.75 billion of sustainability bonds. “These investments will ramp up support for a wide variety of issues vital to a sustainable future –  clean energy, green buildings, clean transportation, circular design, affordable housing, racial equity, COVID-19 response, and support for small businesses.”

More companies MUST be like Google. They have truly set the sustainable corporate benchmarks. Their solutions are simple, yet extremely effective. There should be other corporations, both large and small, trying to match Google’s efforts of becoming carbon-free. 

Consider different ways your business can improve working techniques in a more sustainable way and try to implement some planet-friendly changes!

For more information on Google’s sustainable efforts watch this short, yet informative video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNPas3AYtqw&feature=emb_title.