Optimizing your sustainability efforts for resilience

In our previous blog post, we discussed the foundational need to measure the progress of your sustainability program with verifiable data, and we introduced you to a number of Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability partners that can help you make it happen. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the second pillar of sustainability: optimization. 

Optimizing energy and resource use has clear benefits, both environmental and financial, including energy cost savings, reduced carbon emissions, and lower compliance and reputational risk. The Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability program offers a growing list of validated solutions to help customers build a sustainable value chain, a more efficient transportation system, and a growing portfolio of carbon-free energy sources. Let’s look at these areas one at a time. 

Building a sustainable value chain

Increasingly, organizations are being held responsible for not only their own environmental impacts, but also those of their supply chains — from the first mile to the last. Together, the consumer packaged goods, heavy industry, energy, and agriculture verticals produce 20 gigatons of carbon emissions, providing a vast opportunity for organizations to reduce their impact on the environment. 

To help businesses in these and other industries understand and reduce their impact on the natural environment and local communities, NGIS — a founding partner of the Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability program — delivers traceability and transparency in global supply chains through its TraceMark tool. TraceMark is a next-generation sustainable sourcing monitoring platform designed for enterprises to address their commitments to the sourcing of raw materials using space-based data. NGIS itself has set a target to be a 100% carbon-neutral business and is working on solutions that help combat climate change, natural disasters, and unsustainable land practices.

Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability partner Woza is simplifying access and use of geospatial deep tech to drive more sustainable and resilient value chains. With the ability to manage hundreds of petabytes of satellite, sensor, field, and government information on Google Cloud, Woza is transforming raw data into actionable, ready-to-use geospatial solutions that provide a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of industry’s impact on the environment and society. 

Optimizing transportation and logistics

The movement of goods and services is responsible for 8 gigatons of carbon emissions annually, so a major component of sustainability efforts lies in leveraging telematics insights to optimize fleet fuel consumption as well as electrify transportation whenever possible. Geotab provides vehicle and driver behavior data services for more than 47,000 customers and 3.6 million vehicles spanning enterprises and governments around the world. Processing more than 55 billion data points a day, Geotab leverages Google Cloud’s data analytics and machine learning to help customers make better decisions, increase productivity, maintain safer fleets, and achieve their sustainability goals. In fact, more than 60% of fleets that adopted Geotab’s sustainable fleet solutions saw a reduction in per-mile emissions in 2022, and the Geotab EV Suitability Assessment has helped fleets identify millions of dollars in potential cost savings through electrification. Together with Google Cloud, Geotab optimizes its infrastructure to multiply its sustainable impact.

The ability to predict and plan for weather impacts to avoid supply chain disruption is growing in importance and can play a significant role in reducing supply chain emissions. Tomorrow.io, is a weather intelligence and climate adaptation platform powered by next-generation space technology, cutting-edge generative AI, and proprietary modeling capabilities that is helping organizations mitigate risk and ensure operational resilience. Global leaders including JetBlue, Fox Sports, The United States Air Force, Ford, and Uber rely on Tomorrow.io to create innovative early warning systems and actionable insights. Recent achievements include two Massachusetts municipalities saving 30% on resource management, and a two-day advanced warning of the impact of Cyclone Amphan in India in May 2023.

Creating a carbon-free energy future

Electricity is required in the production of goods and services, the power for new EV electric vehicle fleets, and the data centers that drive the technology enhancing our value chains. The power sector produces a staggering estimated 16 gigatons of carbon emissions annually, making it a prime target for sustainability efforts. With wise use of data analytics, energy suppliers and consumers can leverage baselines, marketplaces, and measurements to decarb the grid for a carbon-free future. 

At Google, we’re proud to take the lead with our pledge to run on 24/7 carbon-free energy on every grid we operate by 2030. In fact, in 2017 Google became the first major company to match 100% of our annual electricity use with renewable energy, which we’ve achieved every year since. Our Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability partner Electricity Maps assisted this mission by providing an understanding of the hourly carbon intensity of local grids and how they fluctuate during the day. This insight allowed Google to align compute tasks with times of low-carbon electricity supply, an insight we now pass on to our customers via Google Cloud Carbon Footprint Reporting. Electricity Maps provides actionable electricity data to companies across 50+ countries and more than 200 regions. 

FlexiDAO is the new energy and emissions enterprise platform helping companies measure, report, and reduce their energy-related emissions with exceptional accuracy and simplicity. FlexiDAO collects energy data and offers analytics to take control of your renewable energy portfolio and make carbon-aware decisions. Companies save time with automated Scope 2 emissions reporting and get risk assessments to ensure regulatory compliance. The FlexiDAO vision is to empower companies to accelerate the transition toward carbon-free energy that runs every hour of the day, everywhere.

LevelTen Energy provides renewable transaction infrastructure for buyers, sellers, advisors, and financiers in the clean energy economy. To address the challenge of climate change and meet our global emissions targets, the transactions enabling clean energy project development must happen 10X faster. By connecting the world’s largest network of clean energy developers, advisors, buyers, and financiers, and delivering the platform they need to get more deals done, LevelTen Energy is accelerating the energy transition. To date, the company has facilitated over $5 billion in clean energy transactions.

Ren Energy's platform, powered by Google Cloud, enables companies to source the cleanest energy possible globally by decarbonizing large corporate supply chains. Large corporations are responsible for 70%+ of global carbon emissions, while supply chains make up 90% of many corporate emissions. Ren saves corporations three years on average on their path to Scope 3 net zero, by leveraging proprietary data and software at global scale.

Energyworx supports utility companies in managing and monetizing the rapidly growing volume of diverse data and increasing complexity of analytics. Powered by Google Cloud, the Energyworx platform and integrated set of solutions help to increase trust in utility data by developing a solid foundation and solving data issues such as connectivity and data quality. It's designed to trim overhead, eliminate mistakes, and speed up analysis with a streamlined process. Machine learning forecasting and energy analytics solutions powered by Google Cloud enable lower peak demand and integration of renewable energy sources. The goal? To enable a cumulative carbon reduction of 290 megatons of CO2 by 2030.

Take the next step toward building a more sustainable and resilient business

Optimizing your organization’s operations is a critical step in your sustainability journey. A number of Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability partners are now available to help you make the most out of your supply chain, logistics, and energy ecosystems by optimizing energy consumption and carbon emissions. The result is not only a smaller environmental footprint, but also a stronger and more resilient bottom line. 

Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability is part of Google Cloud Partner Advantage, designed to maximize our partners' success across business models, customer requirements, success metrics, and strategic priorities. Our focus moving forward is to provide the practical, real-world solutions that organizations need to achieve measurable ESG and economic results. 

Look for Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability validated solutions on the Google Cloud Partner Directory Listing, Google Cloud Ready Sustainability Partner Advantage page, and — if applicable — via the Google Cloud Marketplace. We hope to help customers better understand how these technologies can help them meet their ESG goals, find the right solutions for their particular challenges, and implement solutions faster. 

Learn more about the Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability validation initiative and explore all our partners in sustainability transformation.