By 2030, anyone who runs a search on Google, sends an email via Gmail, looks up a route on Maps or watches a video on YouTube can be certain they have not contributed to CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. This is the flagship promise of the wide-ranging strategy with which Google pledges to tackle this decade, which will be decisive for the future of the climate. Chief executive Sundar Pichai revealed the details in a post on his blog.

Google, from carbon neutral to carbon-free

It was 2007 when Google became the first multinational to achieve carbon neutrality — that is, to quantify its greenhouse gas emissions, reduce them as much as possible and offset the remainder until reaching net zero. Ten years later it had invested over 3 billion dollars in solar and wind power plants, reaching a generating capacity of 3 GW, equivalent to 100 per cent of the electricity consumption of all its offices and data centres worldwide. It has already offset its entire carbon footprint across its twenty-two years of history.

Sundar Pichai ✓ @sundarpichai

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As of today, Google is the 1st major company to eliminate our entire carbon legacy, including before we became carbon neutral in 2007. We’re also proud that by 2030, we aim to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy in our data centers & campuses worldwide.
blog.google/outreach-initi…

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For 2030, the Mountain View giant raises the bar still further and promises to operate on carbon-free energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To achieve this absolute first, the initial step will be the use of carbon-free energy across all its campuses and data centres worldwide. Given that these power the digital services used by users, the statement notes, this means that every query submitted to the search engine, every video watched on YouTube, every email sent and every route looked up on Maps will be made possible by clean energy.

To overcome the limitations posed by the production fluctuations that characterise renewables, Google promises to act on several fronts: combining wind and solar energy sources; increasing the use of storage batteries; and optimising its electricity demand and usage forecasts through artificial intelligence. Large-scale programmes that will contribute to the creation of 12,000 jobs by 2025.

Google ✓ @Google

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“The science is clear: The world must act now.” CEO @SundarPichai details how we’re working toward a carbon-free future → goo.gle/3hvgP1F

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5 GW of new zero-emissions energy

Through a series of investments planned also by 2030, Google wants to make 5 gigawatts of new emissions-free energy available across various industrial areas. In terms of the fight against climate change, this will be the equivalent of taking one million cars off the roads every year. In economic terms, the intention is to mobilise 5 billion dollars of investment in clean energy, creating over 8,000 jobs.

Reducing cities' impact on the climate

Today, 55 per cent of the world's population lives in cities, which generate 80 per cent of gross domestic product but also 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as consuming two thirds of all energy.

Google has already launched the Environmental Insights Explorer service which, by aggregating a series of data, calculates the emissions linked to buildings and transport for each major urban area, as well as estimating the photovoltaic energy that could be generated by installing panels on all available rooftops. The tool is currently available for 122 cities, located mainly across the United States and the United Kingdom, but Sundar Pichai announces that it will be extended to three thousand cities around the world.

The Mountain View company commits to supporting over five hundred cities and local governments on their path to reducing emissions. The target to be reached by 2030 is a cut of 1 billion tonnes per year, equivalent to the emissions of a country the size of Japan.