The virtual world,
which includes Google Cloud’s network, is built on physical infrastructure, and all
those racks of humming servers use huge amounts of energy. Altogether, existing data centers use roughly
2% of the world’s electricity. With this in mind, Google works to make their
data centers run as efficiently as possible. Just like our customers,
Google is trying to do the right things for the planet. We understand that Google Cloud customers
have environmental goals of their own, and running
their workloads on Google Cloud can be a part of meeting those
goals. Therefore, it’s useful to note that Google's data centers were the first to achieve
ISO 14001 certification, which is a standard that maps out a framework for an organization
to enhance its environmental performance through improving resource efficiency and reducing
waste. As an example of how this is being done, here’s
Google’s data center in Hamina, Finland. This facility is one of the most advanced
and efficient data centers in the Google fleet. Its cooling system, which uses sea water from
the Bay of Finland, reduces energy use and is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. In our founding decade, Google became the
first major company to be carbon neutral. In our second decade, we were the first company
to achieve 100% renewable energy. By 2030, we aim to be the first major company
to operate completely carbon free.