Google CEO Sundar Pichai has claimed that “We’re losing time” in the climate fight, in a talk with Bloomberg Green. According to the chief executive, who had pledged last year that his firm would direct its resources during the decade till 2030, towards eliminating carbon from its data centers and offices, the move to carbon-free energy is nothing short of an “innovation opportunity.”
A Good Thing for Business
Pichai believes that cutting back on emissions will help Google improve its business, especially in terms of cloud-computing. At the same time, he is aware of the potential challenges they may have to face in doing so.
In line with the approach, the company has set up Bay View, a new campus at Mountain View, California, which is set to become operational next year. The building is complete with solar panels that Google likes to call “Dragonscale,” and are expected to allow for Google to get some 90 percent of its energy without any greenhouse gas emissions.
Out on Public Domain
The steps, Pichai says, are being taken keeping sustainability in mind. He says that whatever his firm is doing, including the Dragonscale technology has been made available in the public domain, so that others can also adopt the same strategies. At the same time, he does say that Google’s plans of relying on geothermal energy and lithium-ion batteries, is rather a “moonshot” considering the cost.
He also says that while he does remain optimistic about the climate problem, he fears that we’re running out of time. The exec has added that while it’s good that people are growing increasingly aware of the crisis, it is worrisome that the realization is coming at the cost of “real-world examples” of climatic issues.
A Major Agenda
He has also gone on to say that it is “ironic” that sustainability is a part of almost every company’s agenda these days. On being asked why he finds it ironic, he says that it’s because it might not be “obvious from the outside.” This, he believes, has become a trend in the past “18 to 24 months,” with “real conversations” being directed towards sustainability issues.
He has even said that Google has always been doing its bit towards advocating for specific issues, and even rallying to get the US to take a stronger stance against climate change, for example, by getting it to sign the Paris Agreement.
