Google Cloud prepares climate shock for customers with carbon footprint tracker in emissions push

• Carbon footprint tracker feature announced at Google Cloud annual customer conference

• Google Cloud will also warn customers if they are wasting energy on inactive cloud services

Google Cloud announced on Tuesday a new feature, which would tell its customers the carbon emissions of their cloud usage, as pressure mounts on companies to reduce carbon emission.

The new feature was announced at Google Cloud’s annual customer conference which is conducted virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Customers can leverage this data for reporting as well as internal audits and carbon reduction efforts. Build-in collaboration with customers like HSBC, L’Oréal, and Atos, our carbon footprint reporting introduces a new level of transparency to support customers in meeting their climate goals,” said Jenn Bennett, who leads Google Cloud’s data and technology strategy for sustainability in the Office of the CTO. 

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Several cloud vendors, including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have been working on sustainability offerings as companies are facing heat to cut carbon emissions amid climate change worries. Microsoft has already launched a similar feature.

The new carbon footprint reporting tool by Google tells customers the emissions due to the electricity used for storing and processing their data. Google will also warn customers if they are wasting energy on inactive cloud services.

Measure of progress

“Customers can monitor their cloud emissions over time by project, by product, and by region, empowering IT teams and developers with metrics that help them reduce their carbon footprint. Digital infrastructure emissions are really just one part of their environmental footprint, but accounting for carbon emissions is necessary to measure progress against the carbon reduction targets that they all have.”

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Google has also decided to let businesses use its new mapping offering, Google Earth Engine, which had only been used by researchers, governments and advocacy groups since 2009. 

Google said Earth Engine helps ensuring that supply chains are sustainable and also predict operation challenges from extreme weather.

Picture Credits: Reuters