Google Cloud Sustainability Summit: New Programs, Tools for Partners
The partner ecosystem focused on sustainability is expanding “at a remarkable pace,” says Google Cloud.
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Google Cloud announced it was making it easier for partners to participate in its Cloud Ready for Sustainability program. Part of Google Cloud Partner Advantage, it is a validation program for partners with a business-ready solution available on Google Cloud that helps customers achieve sustainability goals.
This could be delivering solutions that reduce carbon emissions, increase the sustainability of value chains, help organizations process ESG data or identify climate risks for increased resilience.
Carto, Climate Engine, NGIS, GEOTAB, Planet, Atlas AI and Electricity Map have already achieved their Google Cloud Ready – Sustainability designation. Many of these partners have expertise in next-generation technologies addressing ESG challenges such as geospatial or climate data and analytics.
The second partner announcement is the launch of the Google Cloud Marketplace Sustainability Hub. This will provide customers with easy access to validated Google Cloud Ready for Sustainability solutions.
“The Marketplace sustainability hub will showcase Google Cloud ready for sustainability solutions, which can be purchased directly from the site. [It] will continue to grow along with our partner ecosystem,” said Justin Keeble, managing director of global sustainability.
Another of the company’s big announcements is that Google Earth Engine on Google Cloud is now generally available.
Google Earth Engine, which originally launched to scientists and NGOs in 2010, is a technology for planetary-scale environmental monitoring. It combines data from hundreds of satellites and other sources with geospatial cloud computing resources to deliver insights about the world’s habitats and ecosystems. It has one of the largest publicly available data catalogs and a global data archive that goes back 50 years and updates every 15 minutes. This means it’s possible to detect trends and understand correlations between human activities and environmental impact more precisely than ever before, said Google Cloud.
Google Cloud also detailed its efforts to use 24/7 carbon-free energy across its global operations by 2030. To achieve this, the company says it needed better tools to track energy consumption and production. Existing approaches to clean energy tracking were not designed to track hour-by-hour energy use, said Keeble.
“We’re excited to start sharing 24/7 carbon-free Energy Insights with our Google Cloud customers through a new pilot program,” said Keeble.
With access to historical and real-time data, and at regional and hourly granularity, customers will see a clear picture of their electricity emissions profile. The pilot will enable customers to baseline their existing carbon-free energy (CFE) score and their scope 2 carbon footprint. It helps them forecast and plan for an optimized energy portfolio, and eventually execute on carbon-free energy transactions.
Last year, the vendor announced Carbon Footprint for Google Cloud. This helps companies measure and reduce the gross carbon emissions of using Google Cloud services. Now Carbon Footprint is adding both scope one and three emissions to its reporting data.
In addition to accounting for customers’ scope two emissions, they will also be able to access data on the emissions from the sources Google Cloud controls directly. This is in addition to “the relevant emissions of Google’s scope three proportion to customer usage,” explained Keeble.
“This will give our customers the most comprehensive view possible, of the emissions associated with their cloud usage.”
Google Cloud is introducing low carbon mode to enable IT teams to restrict their cloud resources to the Low Carbon locations across its infrastructure.
“One of the most impactful actions customers can take to reduce the gross emissions of using Google Cloud is to prioritise the locations with more carbon free energy powering our infrastructure. Relative to other choices, customers may be able to lower carbon emissions five to tenfold,” said Keeble.
Google Cloud is also for sustainability teams that need to access the data in carbon footprint for reporting purposes. It is launching a dedicated IAM role for carbon footprint to enable non-Google Cloud users to access emissions data and use it for tracking or in disclosures.
“In other words, you don’t need to be a cloud computing expert to view and export carbon emissions data associated with the cloud,” said Keeble.
“Cloud Sense brings together features from multiple Google Cloud products like Active Assist, Region Picker and Carbon Footprint. It is designed to help users progress towards achieving lower emissions and to deliver their sustainability goals, said Keeble.
In the latest launch of the Carbon Sense suite of products, Google Cloud is adding new data and expanding reporting coverage. It is also making it easier for cloud architects and administrators to prioritise sustainability.
Early next year, the firm will also launch Carbon Footprint for Google Workspace. This will be for customers looking to understand the emissions associated with products like Gmail, Meet and Docs. This will provide a similar reporting functionality to those available in Carbon Footprint for Google Cloud.
The latest announcements follow the release last week of two new climate insights offerings for the public sector. Keeble said too often industries, governments and corporations are challenged to make sustainability decisions without the right data or insights to inform them.
Climate Insights is designed to help public sector organizations predict climate risks in order to build resilience.
“We launched offerings for both natural resources and for infrastructure,” said Keeble. “And we’re already seeing the real-life benefits of these technologies such as the state of Hawaii Department of Transportation, which today manages about 2,500 miles of highway, 20% of which are facing risks due to erosion and sea-level rise. They can now use Climate Insights to assess risks and prioritise investment decisions based on multiple climate factors.
“The urgency for meaningful action will only increase and I’m really excited that Google Cloud will be at the heart of that journey. By leading with Google, enabling our partners to transform and helping everyone to make more sustainable choices.”
The latest announcements follow the release last week of two new climate insights offerings for the public sector. Keeble said too often industries, governments and corporations are challenged to make sustainability decisions without the right data or insights to inform them.
Climate Insights is designed to help public sector organizations predict climate risks in order to build resilience.
“We launched offerings for both natural resources and for infrastructure,” said Keeble. “And we’re already seeing the real-life benefits of these technologies such as the state of Hawaii Department of Transportation, which today manages about 2,500 miles of highway, 20% of which are facing risks due to erosion and sea-level rise. They can now use Climate Insights to assess risks and prioritise investment decisions based on multiple climate factors.
“The urgency for meaningful action will only increase and I’m really excited that Google Cloud will be at the heart of that journey. By leading with Google, enabling our partners to transform and helping everyone to make more sustainable choices.”
Google Cloud has unveiled a host of new products and programs at its first Google Cloud Sustainability Summit.
Justin Keeble, managing director of global sustainability at the cloud giant, provided a preview of the announcements.
Google Cloud’s Justin Keeble
“We believe in technology’s potential as an enabler of more sustainable business practices,” he said. “We are entering a new era of sustainability-driven business transformation. Organizations that embrace sustainability as core to their business will be the ones that succeed.”
The announcements cover new pilot programs, tools and new reporting capabilities. They also include two initiatives aimed at Google Cloud partners. The ecosystem of partners focused on sustainability “continues to expand at a remarkable pace,” said Keeble.
See the slideshow above to find out all the news from the Google Cloud Sustainability Summit.
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