Google sets unprecedented goal to tap only renewable
power by 2030
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[September 14, 2020] By
Paresh Dave
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's
Google aims to power its data centers and offices solely with renewable
energy by 2030, its chief executive told Reuters, becoming the biggest
company in the world to commit to ditching coal and natural gas power.
The "stretch goal," as CEO Sundar Pichai described it, will force Google
to move beyond the tech industry norm of offseting carbon emissions from
electricity use and require technological and political breakthroughs to
achieve.
"The problem is so immense, many of us need to lead the way and show
solutions," Pichai said. "We’re one small player in this but we can set
an example."
Wildfires burning a record area in the western United States this month
have increased public awareness of climate change, Pichai said, and
Google wants to bring further attention through its new goal as well as
product features.
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Wind, solar and other renewable sources accounted for 61% of Google's
global hourly electricity usage last year. The proportion varied by
facility, with carbon-free sources fulfilling 96% of hourly power needs
at Google's wind-swept Oklahoma data center compared with 3% at its
gas-reliant Singapore operation.
But Google, which consumes slightly more power annually worldwide than
residents and businesses in Delaware, has grown optimistic that it can
bridge the gap with batteries to store solar power overnight, emerging
sources such as geothermal reservoirs and better management of power
needs.
"To plan 24/7 hourly being carbon-free in our data centers and campuses
around the world, we see an enormous logistics challenge, which is why
we've been hard at work modeling the last year how to get there," Pichai
said. "And we feel confident we can get there by 2030."
He declined to share the likely cost of achieving the goal.
Big Google rivals including Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc have
targeted removing more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit over
the coming decades, but none of them have publicly set a goal to stop
sourcing carbon-based energy.
But the companies share a common goal of catalyzing businesses and
governments to curb climate pollution before 2030, when scientists say
global warming could become catastrophic if unchecked.
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![](../images/091420pics/busine33.jpg)
The Google logo is spelled out in heliostats (mirrors that track the
sun and reflect the sunlight onto a central receiving point) during
a tour of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave
Desert near the California-Nevada border February 13, 2014.
REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo
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Jennifer Layke, global director at research group World Resources Institute,
which has received Google funding, said the company inspired others in the
United States and Europe over the last decade but its efforts must now spur
action in crucial polluting regions such as China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
"If we can't shift from carbon, we will suffer the firestorms and the droughts,"
she said.
Google has been carbon-neutral since 2007, meaning it has planted trees, bought
carbon credits and funded large amounts of wind power in places where it is
abundant to offset its tapping of coal and natural gas power in other regions.
It also said Monday that its estimated 1 million metric tons of emissions
between 2006 and its 1998 launch now have been offset.
The company's new goals include bringing 5 gigawatts of renewable energy near
some suppliers, funding tree planting beyond its offset needs and sharing data
or forging partnerships with 500 governments around the world to try to cut 1
gigaton of carbon emissions annually by 2030.
Google said it would continue to offset carbon emissions unrelated to
electricity use, such as from employee travel.
Its carbon-free electricity goal satisfies one demand of 2,000 Google employees
who last November petitioned the company to stop selling data storage and other
cloud computing tools to oil companies.
Pichai said the company would continue to "support everyone" with its cloud
services and help oil and gas companies transition to tapping other sources.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in
Washington; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Kim Coghill)
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