Google pledges carbon neutral sustainability on consumer devices

By 2020, Google has committed to carbon-neutral shipping and recycled plastic for all devices including Pixel phones, Google Home Minis and Chromecast.

Alphabet’s Google has committed to ensuring the creation and distribution of its consumer hardware becomes a sustainable and environmentally friendly enterprise.

Three out of nine of Google’s products has been detailed as containing recycled plastic, ranging from 20% to 42% in the casings for its Google Home speakers and Chromecast streaming dongles.

Google also committed that its operations will neutralise carbon emissions by next year and will also include recycled plastic in each of its products by 2022.

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Google head of sustainability, consumer hardware Anna Meegan write in a blog post yesterday that the firm “is to integrate sustainability into our products, operations and communities – making it not just an aspect of how we do business, but the centrepiece of it.”

Described as an “ongoing endeavour,” Google is aiming to set the standard in what will no doubt become a strong competition among technology companies positioning the sustainability of its operations and products as a priority.

The commitment aims to involves the sustainability of design from the start of manufacturing and embedding it into the entire product development process across all operations, whilst continuing to create products customers want.

Meegan explained: “This is how we will achieve our ambition to leave people, the planet, and our communities better than we found them.”

Google’s sustainability commitments include:

• By 2020, 100% of all shipments going to or from customers will be carbon neutral.
• Starting in 2022, 100% of Made by Google products will include recycled materials with a drive to maximise recycled content wherever possible.
• And it will make technology that puts people first and expands access to the benefits of technology.

Meegan added: “These commitments will build on the foundation and progress we’ve already made. In 2018, we began publishing our product environmental reports, which help everyone understand exactly what our products are made of, how they’re built and how they get shipped to you.

“From 2017 to 2018, our carbon emissions for product shipments decreased by 40%, we’ve also launched our Power Project, which will bring one million energy and money saving Nest thermostats to families in need by 2023, and built much of our Nest product portfolio with post-consumer recycled plastic.”

In 2017, Apple committed to a “one day” only using recycled and renewable materials and has at least 50% recycled plastic in some parts of several of its products, recycled tin in at least 11 products and recycled aluminium in at least two.

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