Google Cloud Carbon Footprint Tracker: Google Cloud Carbon Footprint Feature – As part of the company’s broader effort to combat climate change, Google’s cloud computing division unveiled tools to help clients monitor and reduce their environmental impact.
Customers can now use a carbon-footprint feature to see the total emissions associated with their use of the Google Cloud platform, according to a blog post published Tuesday by the Alphabet Inc.-owned company. Clients can also enter their emissions data into the Salesforce Sustainability Cloud, a carbon accounting platform, thanks to a partnership between Google Cloud and Salesforce.com Inc.
The move comes after Google announced last week that it would assist users of its search and maps services in reducing their carbon emissions, such as by flying or driving on less polluting routes. The internet behemoth has set a goal of becoming carbon-free by 2030, in addition to promising to stop funding climate change misinformation with digital ads.
It is currently powered entirely by renewable energy and has been carbon-neutral since 2007. The company claims that its cloud, which provides internet-based computing and storage to other businesses, is the cleanest in the world.
Cloud computing is seen as a key area for environmental improvements, with its sprawling facilities filled with energy-hungry machines. Over the last four years, Google has purchased renewable energy offsets to match the energy consumption of its server farms.
Google will inform customers about the carbon footprint of idle or abandoned projects that continue to run on its servers as part of Tuesday’s changes, making it easier for businesses to only use the capacity they require.
Finally, the Google Earth Engine will be made available to some clients. The software “tracks, monitors, and predicts changes in the Earth’s surface due to extreme weather events or human-caused activities” by combining various technologies such as maps, artificial intelligence, and BigQuery. The goal is to assist customers in saving money and reducing risk.
Google is attempting to differentiate itself from Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., two of its biggest cloud computing competitors. To take market share from the cloud leaders, Google Cloud Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kurian has increased his unit’s workforce, focused on solutions tailored to clients’ industries, and reorganized his staff.
Kurian’s latest opportunity to show the company’s progress to clients, analysts, and Alphabet investors is Tuesday’s Cloud Next conference, which is a showcase for Google’s enterprise products. The division’s annual revenue increased by 46 percent to $13 billion last year.
Other Google Cloud announcements included:
- Google Distributed Cloud, which allows customers to put Google hardware and software wherever they need it, including in their own corporate server farms and far away from data centres, at the “edge.”
- Wendy’s Co., General Mills Inc., Siemens Energy AG, and Deutsche Post DHL Group have signed new customer agreements.
- A set of Data Cloud tools designed to make it easier for clients to incorporate AI and analytics into their products.
- Upgraded security for Google Workspace’s collaboration software programmes, as well as the formation of a Google Cybersecurity Action Team, which brings together employees from across the company to advise governments and businesses of all sizes.
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