Washington, DC- In response to Google’s release of a discussion paper, “Moving Toward 24×7 Carbon-Free Energy at Google Data Centers: Progress and Insights,” published today on the company’s blog, Greenpeace USA Senior Corporate Campaigner Elizabeth Jardim said,
“Google’s paper is an insightful update on the company’s efforts to pursue local and additional sources of renewable energy, and it is commendable that Google acknowledges the need for clean energy around the clock. With the effects of climate change intensifying everyday, Google and all companies need to urgently pursue a goal of 100% renewables 24/7 purchased from the regions in which they operate.
Google still operates data centers in regions where fossil fuels provide the lion’s share of energy, including Taiwan and the southeast United States. Google must move beyond matching and offsetting its use of coal and natural gas in these regions with wind it buys elsewhere, and instead purchase and store additional renewables locally in all regions that it operates.
The importance of Google’s focus on a 24/7 supply of local and additional renewables is highlighted in Northern Virginia, home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world. The tech sector’s energy demand in Virginia is driving reckless investment in fossil fuel infrastructure such as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would lock us into fracked natural gas at a time when we need to act urgently to reverse the impacts of climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned this week that the world has about a decade to avoid climate catastrophe. Google’s leadership on renewable energy has triggered a wave of other companies to set their own renewable energy goals. With the fatal consequences of climate change already here, it is imperative for Google and its peers to fully break free from fossil fuels as soon as possible.”
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Contact:
Cassady Craighill, [email protected], 828-817-3328
