Google Green Report: Sustainability Wins, Water Goals Remain Elusive
35 Google’s annual environmental report released Monday showed the company continued to meet its goals for renewable energy use but still had a ways to go to meet its pledge to give back to communities more water than it’s taking out of them to cool its data centers and supply its offices. For the sixth year in a row, the company matched 100% of its annual global electricity use with renewable energy purchases, according to the 104-page report. “We are now working to address the issue that renewable energy is not available all the time and everywhere by aiming to run on carbon-free energy 24/7 and to achieve net-zero emissions across all of our operations and value chain by 2030,” Learning & Sustainability Senior Vice President Ben Gomes and Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt wrote in a Google blog. The report also noted that through the company’s contracted watershed projects, it had replenished 271 million gallons of water — equivalent to more than 400 Olympic-sized s...