The technology industry has a key role to play in fighting climate change, says Sundar
Pichai, chief executive, Google and Alphabet
Our goal is to show that 24/7 carbon-free energy is possibleAFTER DECADES of incremental steps forward, 2021 will be the most significant year
yet for combating climate change. Two recent developments have made this possible.
First, as science tells us that we have a decade to reduce emissions dramatically or face
the worst impacts of climate change, many of those impacts have already arrived at our
door. From the historic and deadly wildfires in Australia and California, to severe
flooding around the world, there is no denying that climate change is already disrupting
our daily lives. At the same time, support for climate action has never been stronger—
from Generation Z’s solutions-oriented mindset, to political support that increasingly
crosses party lines, to Europe’s large-scale ambition to become the first carbon-neutral
continent, society is ever more unified against the threat of climate change.
Second, we are seeing promising technologies and policies that will bring carbon-free
energy within reach. Not long ago, it was hard to imagine a 24/7 carbon-free electricity
supply. At its most basic level, the wind does not always blow and the sun does not
shine at night. But new technologies—including better energy storage and the reduction
of costs associated with wind and solar power by 70% and 89% respectively over the
past ten years—are bringing 24/7 carbon-free energy closer to reality.
Another of those technologies is artificial intelligence (AI). At Google, we are working on
ways to apply AI to optimise electricity consumption within our data centres. In
collaboration with our sister venture, DeepMind, we have developed solutions that have
reduced the amount of energy used to cool our data centres by 30%. This approach
could be used by commercial buildings, including airports and shopping malls, to do the
same. AI can also be used to make wind power more predictable, which will increase the
value, utilisation and adoption of renewable energy.
Meanwhile, sensors on satellites can locate large-scale emitters of carbon dioxide at a
very fine-grained level. This could dramatically improve the effectiveness of the Paris
climate agreement. Technology is also helping cities reduce their carbon emissions.
According to the Global Covenant of Mayors, an international alliance of over 10,000
cities and local governments committed to fighting climate change, less than 20% of
cities outside western Europe have the time, resources and data to meet their climate
commitments. With platforms like our own Environmental Insights Explorer, cities can
use anonymised, aggregated mapping data to estimate the carbon footprint of their
buildings and transport, and realise their solar-energy potential—a critical step, as
cities continue to contribute over 70% of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
Technology is also helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change that are
already apparent. As one example, we are able to use satellite data to map wildfires in
real time and better predict how they might spread. In India, flood forecasting models
use AI to predict when floods will hit and how deep the waters will get, helping save
lives. Machine learning is also being applied to “nowcast” rainfall sooner and with more