By the start of the next decade Google wants to make sure all the electricity it uses for its data centers and offices will be truly 100% carbon free.
Under its previous pledge the tech giant has been offsetting its consumption with direct renewable electricity purchases and the associated certificates. On paper, that allowed it to claim it used 100% renewable electricity. But when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, it’s still drawing its power from polluting fossil fuels.
The new policy will ensure that doesn’t happen again.
As part of a series of commitments on Monday, Google also said it will leverage more than $5 billion dollars of investment in 5 gigawatts of wind, solar, nuclear and other new carbon-free energy projects across its supply chain over the next decade. The company said the move will create 20,000 new jobs.
The science is clear: The world must act now if we’re going to avert the worst consequences of climate change. We are committed to doing our part,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive officer, said in a blog post.
The announcement comes as wild fires rage across California and huge blazes darkened skies in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Google is headquartered.
To deliver clean energy around the clock Google will use a bundle of measures including pairing wind and solar projects, using more batteries to store power and investing in artificial intelligence to improve power demand and forecasting.
The decision shines a light on the inadequacy of companies using renewable energy certificates to meet their climate targets instead of directly buying power from projects.
