Google Cloud is touting sustainability as a standout feature of its cloud in its latest push to win over customers away from Amazon and Microsoft.
Running a cloud can use up massive amounts of energy. That's become a concern for customers, Google Cloud cited in a study it commissioned from analyst firm IDG of 2,000 senior IT leaders, which sees 90% of respondents saying that sustainability is a priority for their IT departments.
To that end, Google Cloud launched several new features on Tuesday to help customers estimate and reduce their carbon emissions. It says that the new features were developed in collaboration with companies like Salesforce, HSBC, Atos, and L'Oreal.
"We've been a leader in really setting the bar in where we see the industry going," Jen Bennett, technical director at Google Cloud's office of the CTO, said at a press conference.
The first new product is called Carbon Footprint, which is available to Google Cloud users for free. It allows customers to measure, track and report on carbon emissions from their cloud usage. They can monitor their emissions over time by product, project, or region and use the data for internal audits.
"Carbon Footprint introduces a new level of transparency to support customers in meeting their climate goals," Bennett said.
It also launched Google Earth Engine for select customers. Customers can use it to glean insight on how their business impacts the natural environment and how to become more resilient to climate change threats, using tools like satellite imagery, data sets and prediction models.
Finally, Google Cloud launched features to alert customers when they have applications on the cloud that are not being used and what the carbon footprint of those projects are. By deleting those projects, customers can reduce their carbon footprint from wasted computing resources.
Additionally, Google Cloud is partnering with organizations like Planet, Carto, Climate Engine, Geotab, and NGIS to run applications, satellite data, and more on Google Cloud and help customers make decisions focused on sustainability.
Sustainability has become an increasing priority for Google Cloud. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said last month that it sees customers becoming more interested in meeting sustainability goals.
"A new theme we see emerging a lot is the notion as organizations look over a multiyear time frame on the sustainability commitments," Kurian said at the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference in September. "We're seeing a lot of interest in the fact that we run a green cloud."
Google Cloud claims to be the cleanest cloud in the industry, saying it uses 100% renewable energy across all of its operations and data centers and that it has offset all its historical carbon emissions. It set a goal to operate on carbon free energy by 2030.
Microsoft says it is carbon neutral, and in July, it launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, which helps companies measure and respond to their carbon emissions. Its data centers run on 60% renewable electricity, and it plans to reach 100% by 2025. Likewise, AWS plans to power its data centers with 100% renewable energy by 2025 and aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Amazon says it has achieved 50% renewable energy usage.
"We are thrilled to see others joining because we believe sustainability will require all of us," Bennett said.
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