GREEN INITIATIVES
Taking action is something that Google has always done, with its approach coming in the form of technology and innovation. As it pursues climate action, Google is working on achieving net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030, leading by example while making solutions available for others.
For example, Google Cloud’s Climate Insights tools help public sector agencies improve climate resilience, which underscores the vital role governments play in understanding and responding to climate change and providing the actionable insights they need to respond quickly.
“We have a raft of other ambitious goals and we’re really clear on the goals that we’re focused on,” he says. “We’re also focused on building and working with others to use AI to help others on that journey.”
Google: Three decades of technology and sustainability Google set an example from an early stage that major corporations can unlock sustainability goals through technological innovation while also working toward their own.
This journey has gained momentum, Adam believes, as organisations and governments integrate sustainability further into their operations, rather than it being a side project.
Across his career at Google – as well as his sustainability roles at Marks & Spencer, Amazon and at plastic packaging manufacturer Klöckner Pentaplast – Adam has observed that businesses are acting on sustainability and leveraging technology to do so. not just because regulation has been introduced, but because it makes business sense, creates viable opportunities and is morally and ethically the right thing to do.
A decade later, Google achieved another milestone by matching 100% of its energy use with renewable energy – making itself the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy.
And as it moves through its third decade of climate action, bolder initiatives follow. As well as working to achieve net zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2030, it has committed to, as Adam explains, “sourcing clean energy locally every hour of every single day”, so its data centres and campuses worldwide can fully operate on carbon-free energy.
“I’ve been working in the sustainability space for coming up to two decades now,” he says. “The exciting thing for me is that it has really moved from what used to be a small team on the side of the business to being integrated.”
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March 2025