Google and the Environment
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Look Beyond Google's Plan to Become Carbon Neutral (June-07)
Gartner has criticised Google’s announcement that it will be carbon neutral by the end of 2007 because the plan depends heavily on carbon offsets, a concept that lacks credibility. Furthermore, Google does not disclose its energy consumption or its carbon footprint.
Google has announced its plan to become carbon neutral by the end of 2007, to achieve this they will maximise efficiency, use renewable resources and purchase offsets for the remaining emissions. In reality to become carbon neutral Google will have to rely heavily on carbon offsets, this lacks credibility and it is hard to ensure that every ton of carbon dioxide emitted will be permanently removed through an offset program. Google states that offsetting will only be temporary, but Gartner believe that to achieve carbon neutrality Google will have to purchase offsets for many years to come, this is due to the company having more servers than any other, leading to a substantial carbon footprint.
It is vital to ensure that carbon neutrality achieved via offsets is not weighted highly in environmental purchase criteria, what is more impressive and far harder to achieve is a corporation taking direct steps to reduce their carbon dioxide footprint.
