Google Joins The °Climate Group - Aims to Go Carbon Neutral by 2008

Google, the largest search engine on the web, has become a member of The °Climate Group in order to help meet its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2008.

The °Climate Group will partner with Google to help them achieve carbon neutrality and support their plans for greater energy efficiency; renewable energy; and the offsetting of any remaining emissions - those that cannot be eliminated directly - by investing in credible carbon offset schemes.

“Innovation goes to the heart of what Google does,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive of Google. “By investing in new technologies and by working in partnership with others, we can make a meaningful contribution to the environment. This is just a start. We are actively looking for more opportunities to help tackle climate change.”

“Google has been working on energy efficiency since 2001 when we started to build our own servers,” said Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations and Google Fellow. “The °Climate Group will help deepen our understanding about climate change and the action we can take to minimise our carbon emissions. I am delighted we have joined the group and look forward to learning from them in the future.”

Dr. Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group, said: “The very real threats posed by global warming demand bold, imaginative and far-reaching action by every sector of the economy. Google’s commitment to invest in environmental innovation, combined with their ‘worldwide’ reach – will significantly help promote and accelerate international action on climate change.”

“Overall the Internet is a relatively clean technology: sending an email or downloading an album has less impact than posting a letter or buying a CD.” Hoelzle continued. “And by maximising our energy efficiency, creating an additional 50 MWs of renewable energy generating capacity and investing in innovative green technology Google will help build a cleaner energy future.”