Author Archives: Sundar Pichai

Our new $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund

Editor’s note:Today Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a new $100 million Google Career Certificates Fundat an event with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo and the CEOs of Social Finance, Merit America and Year Up. Below is an edited transcript of his remarks. Watch the event above.

One of the best parts of my job is visiting the communities where Google operates. These visits remind me that America is full of people who want to work hard and contribute to their communities.

That sense of purpose and optimism is what brought me to America nearly 30 years ago. And it’s what drew me to Google and its mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

We are a company of technology optimists. We believe in what people can do with technology to improve their lives and the lives of others.

That’s what inspired us to launch Grow with Google in 2017, to help all Americans access training to grow their skills, careers and businesses. What we’ve learned over the last five years is what can be accomplished when private-sector companies like ours come together with public-sector institutions and nonprofit partners. Our digital skills program is one example. Together we’ve helped train eight million Americans in all 50 states.

Another example is our Google Career Certificates. Seventy thousand Americans have now completed these certificates. They prepare people for high-paying, high-growth jobs in fields like data analytics, IT support, project management and user experience design. They are available to anyone, no college degree required. Seventy-five percent of graduates report seeing a positive impact on their career within six months, including a raise or a new job.

That includes Natalie Burns, who I met in 2019, and who is here with us today. Natalie earned her Google IT Support certificate while attending community college in Texas. She got a job in cybersecurity and — I’m told — a significant pay increase. Congrats, Natalie!

We want to help more people access these Certificates, especially in underserved communities.

That’s why I’m excited to announce a new $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund. The goal is to enable Social Finance to reach more than 20,000 American workers. This investment in America’s future has the potential to drive $1 billion in wage gains.

This fund is a new kind of financing model. We’ll invest Google capital and Google.org grants and provide our Career Certificate program. Social Finance will provide funding to nonprofit partners like Merit America and Year Up, who in turn will provide services like career coaching, living stipends and job placement support. And we’ll connect students to an employer consortium of more than 150 companies who are looking to hire workers with these skills.

It’s all designed around student success. They will receive all of this at no upfront cost. And will only pay it back once they find a job earning at least $40,000 a year. Social Finance will then redistribute those repayments to future learners, making this model more sustainable.

It’s another promising example of how the entire ecosystem — from private companies to nonprofits — can work together to help more Americans access economic opportunities.

I’m excited to see all the ways this could be transformative for people, their families and their communities. Thank you to our partners again for their efforts and support.

How companies can help accelerate Africa’s digital transformation

Editor’s note:Today Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the African Union Summit Business Forum on the potential for Africa’s digital transformation and how companies like Google can help accelerate it, in partnership with governments. Below is an edited transcript of his remarks. Watch the video on YouTube.

On behalf of Google and Alphabet, I am pleased to address this Business Forum on the occasion of the African Union Summit. Thanks to your leadership, the African continent has experienced rapid economic growth despite pressing challenges. It’s been especially inspiring to see the role technology has played in enabling “African-led solutions to African and global problems.”

Africa is increasingly a place where innovation begins. People all over the world now use mobile payment systems, first developed in Kenya. Renewable energy innovations on the continent are shaping a more sustainable future. The emerging digital technologies in air transport and tourism in Africa that you are discussing today will improve connectivity on a global scale.

Expanding opportunities through technology is deeply personal to me. Growing up in India, every new innovation — from the rotary phone to the refrigerator — improved my family’s life.

The chance to bring technology to more people is what drew me to Google, and to its mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

For 14 years, we’ve partnered with African governments to deliver on that mission. We opened our first office in Egypt in May 2007, and Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, hired our very first African Googlers. Since then our presence has grown to include offices in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and an AI research lab in Accra, Ghana. Together we have helped 100 million Africans affordably access the internet, trained six million people in digital skills since 2017, and invested in the African startup ecosystem.

Across all of these efforts, digital technology has been a powerful engine for progress. That opportunity will only grow: 300 million more people will come online in the next five years — many of them young, entrepreneurial and digitally-savvy.

What’s more, the African Continental Free Trade Area will boost intra-African trade and generate investments in infrastructure. Said simply: Africa is on the brink of a digital transformation. Companies like ours can play an important role, in partnership with governments, the African Union, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Last year we announced a plan to invest $1 billion to support digital transformation in Africa. We are focused on the priorities outlined in our “Digital Sprinters” report, which illustrates how adoption of technology can accelerate economic growth. It starts with expanding affordable and reliable internet access for more people, with infrastructure investments such as our Equiano subsea cable. Working with partners like Econet, X’s Taara team is helping to bring internet connectivity to more communities. It uses light to transmit information at super high speeds through the air.

We’re also investing in startups in areas important to Africa’s economy. That includes transport and tourism, the theme of today’s Forum. For example, we’ve invested in startups like SafeBoda, an app that connects passengers to a community of safe, trusted drivers, through our $50 million Africa Investment Fund. And Send, a logistics platform that helps move cargo across Africa, received equity-free funding from our Black Founders Fund.

At the core of all these initiatives is partnership. Success means working in close collaboration with African governments, the AU, UNECA, and businesses in the digital ecosystem. We are committed to doing just that, to ensure every person in Africa can shape and share in the opportunities technology creates.

Sundar Pichai against a textured backdrop with a plant in the corner
10:25

Click above to watch Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s address to leaders at the African Union Summit business forum.

Our commitment to Australia’s digital future

Today, speaking virtually at an event in Sydney, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the Digital Future Initiative: a $1 billion, five-year commitment to Australia, including initiatives to strengthen digital infrastructure, develop Australian technology and talent, and solve global and local challenges. Below is an edited transcript of his remarks.

Google’s growing presence across Australia reflects our deep confidence in the future — and the profound opportunities ahead.

Growing up in Chennai, I remember listening to the cricket test series between Australia and India on the radio, and was glad to see the rivalry continue in that amazing series last summer.

Over time, I would come to realize the important role Australia has played in some of the world’s most significant technologies, including Wi-Fi.

Australia has helped shape Google itself, from early work on Google Maps to progress on Chromebooks, Photos, Payments and Fitbit today. During the bushfires and pandemic, our priority has been making sure Australians can turn to Google for information to stay safe, work and learn from home, and keep their businesses running.

When bushfires brought tourism to a halt in 2020, Melissa Stone, owner of Bliss Gifts and Homewares in New South Wales, attended a Grow with Google virtual training. There she learned the digital skills which helped her set up her Google Business Profile, advertise online, and improve her SEO.

With these skills, she was able to grow her online presence and reach new customers. As a result, her revenues grew fifty percent after the bushfires, and today ninety percent of her sales come from digital channels.

At the same time, Australian startups are providing important digital services, like Sonder, which offers mental health and safety support to workers around the clock.

And Australian researchers are pushing technology in new directions. The Westmead Applied Research Centre, for example, is exploring how AI can help prevent heart disease — with support from Google.org.

Looking ahead, we want to help Australia shape the next wave of innovations, and bring the benefits of technology to more people. To help, today I’m proud to announce our biggest investment in Australia yet: a five-year, A$1 billion commitment to launch the Digital Future Initiative.

This investment will focus on three areas.

  • First, it will help develop Australia’s digital infrastructure, focused on cloud computing. Cloud is helping Australian companies innovate and grow in every part of the economy.
  • Second, it will broaden the opportunity we provide for local tech talent — including the launch of our first research hub in Australia. At Google Research Australia, we will build a team of local researchers and engineers to help tackle important issues, creating jobs and providing education and training.
  • Third, we will create new technology partnerships to help solve Australian and global challenges. That includes working with the CSIRO team to explore clean energy and protecting the Great Barrier Reef, and with Macquarie University to advance quantum computing.

Partnerships like these will be at the heart of the Digital Future Initiative.

We believe a strong digital future is one where everyone has access to technology and the skills to use it, where the internet economy fulfills its immense potential, and Australia’s long tradition of innovation can grow and thrive.

We look forward to working together as Australia builds that future, and we can’t wait to be part of it.

Climate change is humanity’s next big moonshot

Editor’s note: Today, Google GEO Sundar Pichai spoke at YouTube’s Dear Earthevent, sharing ways Google is working to solve climate change — and why he’s optimistic we can make meaningful progress. Below is a transcript of his remarks.

Hello fellow dear earthlings. Thanks for tuning in. I can’t think of another issue that would bring together former President Obama, Pope Francis and BLACKPINK. It’s more proof that climate change is the biggest challenge we face…and it’s one that will affect all of us in deeply personal ways.

You know, there was water scarcity when I was growing up and droughts were frequent events. Over time, the water table became really low and many homes didn’t have access to fresh water. We would have to wait for rationed water to be brought in on trucks, and then wait in long lines to carry water back home.

There were times when the trucks didn’t come at all — and it was all just part of normal life.

Fast forward to 2015, I woke up to the news that Chennai had a 1-in-100 year flood and saw pictures where the whole city was submerged in water. Over two million people were displaced. It really drove home for me, in a personal way, how climate change can impact communities, especially those already facing challenges.

A couple of years after that, I woke up to orange skies and smoke from nearby wildfires in California. It was another reminder how climate change is impacting so many of our communities.

Despite these challenges, I’m still optimistic about our future.

That’s because I believe in people. Throughout history, people have made the impossible, possible. We’ve developed life-saving vaccines, expanded opportunity through the internet and landed on the moon.

Solving climate change is humanity’s next big moonshot.

But unlike the moon landing — there is a clear deadline for action, and severe consequences if we fail.

Yet there’s good news, too: There are more people focused on solving climate change than ever before. From governments and academic researchers, to companies like ours, to people like you.

And your generation is rightfully demanding solutions and holding us to account.

The other bright spot is technology. A lot can change in ten years. Ten years ago most of Google’s energy consumption was from traditional sources. Today, we match 100 percent of our energy with renewable sources.

That shows you what is possible in a decade. And now, we’re focused on the next ten years.

Rather than tell you what we’re doing — let me show you. This is what it looks like inside one of Google’s data centers.

Data centers are what make the internet run. They power the games you stream and the YouTube videos you watch. And they run on about 1% of the world’s electricity, and so changing how that electricity is generated can make a big impact on the other 99%.

That’s why we want to run our data centers on carbon-free energy, 24/7. So, in the future, every search you do, every YouTube video you watch, every Gmail you send will be powered by clean energy — sources like wind, solar, and geothermal. And our goal is to do all this by 2030.

Right now, I’m standing inside our newest building at our headquarters in California. As you can see, it’s still under construction. It will take workspace design and sustainability to a new level. The lumber is all responsibly sourced. And when it rains, we collect the water, treat it and keep it in tanks for future use.

Maybe my favorite thing about this building is the roof. The outside is covered in solar panels that remind me of a dragon’s scales. And it will generate about 40% of the energy the building uses.

Sustainable operations and design can make a big difference. So can people.

Our goal is to find new ways that our products can help one billion people make more sustainable choices in their daily lives. Like choosing the most eco-friendly route home. Or finding the nearest bike share.

These small changes can add up to a big impact — and our planet and your future deserve nothing less.

There will be moments when it feels like progress isn’t fast enough. Or that action isn’t bold enough. So be impatient. That’s what will drive progress. It’s the only thing that ever does.

If you do that, together, we can make sure our planet’s best days are still ahead.

Our $1 billion investment in Africa’s digital transformation

Editor’s note: Today at Google for Africa, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a $1 billion investment in Africa over five years to cover a range of initiatives, from improved connectivity to investments in startups. Below is an edited transcript of his remarks. Watch the full event above or on YouTube.

There is so much momentum happening across Africa, and we’re excited to showcase it at our first Google for Africa event.

Of course, there are also significant challenges. The pandemic continues to deeply impact communities across the continent and around the world. I hope everyone is taking care during these difficult times.

One thing we’ve seen is how technology can be a lifeline, whether you are a parent seeking information to keep your family healthy, a student learning virtually or an entrepreneur connecting with new customers and markets. Being helpful in these moments is at the core of our mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Expanding opportunity through technology is deeply personal to me. That’s because I grew up without much access to it. Every new technology — from the rotary phone to the television — changed my family’s life for the better. That’s why I’m a technology optimist. I believe in how people can harness it for good.

I see so many examples across Africa today, whether it’s startups like Tambua Health that are using machine learning to help doctors diagnose and treat diseases, or entrepreneurs like Tunji, whom I had the chance to meet when I was in Lagos in 2017. His company, Gidi Mobile, is helping low-income students in Nigeria access online learning.

Sundar Pichai and Gidi Mobile’s Tunji Adegbesan at Google for Nigeria in 2017

Sundar Pichai and Gidi Mobile’s Tunji Adegbesan at Google for Nigeria in 2017

Increasingly we are seeing innovation begin in Africa, and then spread throughout the world. For example, people in Africa were among the first to access the internet through a phone rather than a computer. And mobile money was ubiquitous in Kenya before it was adopted by the world.

This momentum will only increase as 300 million people come online in Africa over the next five years. Many of them are young, creative and entrepreneurial, and they’re ready to drive new innovation and opportunity across the region.

It’s been incredible to see the rapid pace of change in a short amount of time, and be a partner on that journey. Since we opened our first offices in Africa, we’ve enabled 100 million Africans to access the internet for the first time and empowered millions of businesses and creators with digital tools.

A big focus has been on expanding opportunity through digital skills. In 2017, we committed to help 10 million Africans get the digital skills they need to grow their careers and businesses. So far, we’ve trained six million people. We’ve also trained 80,000 developers from every country in Africa and supported more than 80 startups to raise global venture capital funding, creating thousands of jobs.

In 2018, we opened an artificial intelligence research center in Accra. The team is focused on solving challenges relevant to Africa and the world, like using AI to map buildings that are hard to detect using traditional tools and adding 200,000 kilometers of roads on Google Maps.

And we continue to build for Africa’s unique needs. Products like Android Go and Files Go ensure that everyone can have a great smartphone experience. On YouTube, we are supporting Black creators and artists with our Black Voices Fund.

These are just a few examples of how we're investing in, and building for, Africa. We know there’s more we can do to help bring the benefits of technology to more Africans.

So today I'm excited to announce that we plan to invest one billion dollars in Africa over five years. It will cover a range of initiatives, from improving connectivity to investing in startups.

These investments will support the continent’s digital transformation in four key areas:

  • Enabling affordable access and building products for every kind of African user.
  • Helping businesses with their digital transformation.
  • Investing in entrepreneurs to spur next-generation technologies.
  • Supporting nonprofits working to improve lives across Africa.

As we make these investments, we know we can’t do this alone. We look forward to partnering with African governments, policymakers, educators, entrepreneurs and businesses. We have so much opportunity ahead as Africans shape the next wave of innovation. Thank you for the chance to be a part of it.

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Giving you more sustainable choices with Google

Climate change is no longer a distant threat — it’s increasingly local and personal. Around the world, wildfires, flooding and other extreme weather continue to affect our health, our economies and our future together on our planet. We need urgent and meaningful solutions to address this pressing challenge. That’s why last year we committed to bold action to run our data centers and campuses on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.

Companies aren’t the only ones asking what more we can do to help the planet — increasingly people are asking themselves those questions, too. So today we’re sharing several new ways people can use Google’s products to make sustainable choices. Among them, we’re introducing new features to book flights or purchase appliances that have lower carbon footprints, a Nest program to support clean energy from home, and eco-friendly routing on Google Maps — which is rolling out today. And when people come to Google Search with questions about climate change, we’ll show authoritative information from sources like the United Nations, in addition to the existing news sources that we currently raise up in the carousel. It’s all part of our goal to help one billion people make more sustainable choices by 2022.

You can now see carbon emissions per seat for every flight in Google Flights.

Travel and shop more sustainably

We’re adding new features to help make decisions about travel — from what flights to book to where to stay. Launching globally today, we’re bringing carbon emissions information to Google Flights. You’ll be able to see associated carbon emissions per seat for every flight, and quickly find lower-carbon options. And when you search for hotels, you’ll see information on their sustainability efforts, from waste reduction and water conservation measures to whether they’re Green Key or EarthCheck certified.

We’re also helping people make more sustainable choices when they shop, starting with home appliances. When you search for energy-intensive products like furnaces, dishwashers or water heaters, suggestions in the Shopping tab will help narrow your search to cost-effective and sustainable options.

Supporting clean energy from home

For over a decade, Nest thermostats have helped people save energy at home. Today we are taking these efforts a step further with a new service called Nest Renew. Using a feature called Energy Shift, compatible Nest thermostats can help users automatically shift electricity usage for heating and cooling to times when energy is cleaner or less expensive. For those who want to do more to help support the growth of clean energy, we will offer a paid subscription option, Renew Premium, that will match your fossil fuel electricity at home with high-quality renewable energy credits generated from the same projects in Google's energy portfolio.

Getting around more sustainably

Traveling by car is one of the more carbon-intensive choices people make on a daily basis. Starting today in the U.S., and in Europe in 2022, Google Maps will let you choose the most fuel-efficient route if it isn’t already the fastest one. We estimate that this could save over one million tons of carbon emissions per year — the equivalent of removing over 200,000 cars from the road — and save you money by reducing fuel consumption.

You can choose the most eco-friendly route in Google Maps.

We're also working to make sure the cars that remain on the road are eco-friendly. On Search, we're making it easier to see hybrid and electric vehicle options, compare them against gas-powered models, and find rebates so you know the true cost before you buy. These features will start to roll out in the U.S. this year, with more to come in 2022.

Of course, the most sustainable choice often doesn't involve a car at all. That’s why we’re introducing lite navigation for cyclists on Maps, and making it simpler to find bikes and scooter shares in over 300 cities around the world.

AI for more efficient traffic lights

Illustration of an intersection showing cars, a stoplight and roadways.

Early research indicates that AI can help cities make their traffic lights more efficient, making every route more eco-friendly no matter the car.

At the same time, we’re finding ways to make routes more efficient, across an entire city, with early research into using artificial intelligence to optimize the efficiency of traffic lights. We’ve been piloting this research in Israel to predict traffic conditions and improve the timing of when traffic lights change. So far, we are seeing a 10-20% reduction in fuel consumption and delay time at intersections. We’re excited to expand these pilots to Rio de Janeiro and beyond.

Cleanest cloud in the industry

We’re also helping business customers like Whirlpool, Etsy, HSBC, Unilever and Salesforce develop new solutions for the specific climate change challenges they face, and benefit from the cleanest cloud in the industry. We recently launched tools to help businesses choose cleaner regions to locate their Google Cloud resources. And next week at Google Cloud Next ‘21, we’ll announce more ways every company can choose to be more sustainable.

More sustainable with Google

In all these efforts, our goal is to make the sustainable choice an easier choice. At the individual level, these choices may seem small, but when people have the tools to make them at scale, they equal big improvements. We’ll need nothing less to avert the worst consequences of climate change, and we’ll continue to find ways our products can help.

Te ofrecemos más opciones sustentables con Google

El cambio climático ya no es una amenaza lejana, sino algo cada vez más local y personal. En todo el mundo, los incendios forestales, las inundaciones y otras condiciones climáticas afectan nuestra salud, nuestras economías y nuestro futuro juntos en el planeta. Necesitamos soluciones urgentes y significativas para abordar este desafío apremiante. Es por eso que el año pasado nos comprometimos a alcanzar, para el año 2030, el ambicioso objetivo de operar nuestros campus y centros de datos con energía libre de carbono de forma permanente.

Las empresas no son las únicas que se preguntan qué más podemos hacer para ayudar al planeta; cada vez más, las personas también se hacen esas preguntas. Por eso, hoy compartimos varias maneras nuevas en las que las personas pueden usar los productos de Google para tomar decisiones sustentables. Entre ellas, presentamos nuevas funciones para reservar vuelos o comprar electrodomésticos que tienen una huella de carbono más baja, un programa de Nest para apoyar la energía limpia en el hogar y nuevas rutas ecológicas en Google Maps, que comienzan a implementarse hoy. Y cuando las personas acudan a la Búsqueda de Google con preguntas sobre el cambio climático, mostraremos información fidedigna de fuentes como las Naciones Unidas, además de las fuentes de noticias existentes que actualmente presentamos en los resultados. Estos esfuerzos forman parte de nuestro objetivo de ayudar a mil millones de personas a tomar decisiones más sustentables para 2022.

Ahora se podrán ver las emisiones de carbono por asiento para cada vuelo en Google Flights.

Viaja y compra de manera más sustentable

Estamos agregando nuevas herramientas para ayudar a tomar decisiones sobre viajes: desde qué vuelos reservar hasta dónde hospedarse. Con un lanzamiento global, ahora incluímos información sobre emisiones de carbono en Google Flights. Podrás ver las emisiones de carbono asociadas por asiento a cada vuelo y encontrar al instante opciones con menos emisiones. Y cuando busques hoteles, verás información sobre los esfuerzos de sustentabilidad, desde la reducción de desechos y las medidas de conservación del agua hasta las certificaciones Green Key o EarthCheck obtenidas.

También ayudamos a las personas a tomar decisiones más sustentables cuando compran, comenzando por los electrodomésticos. Cuando busques productos que consuman mucha energía, como hornos, lavavajillas o calentadores de agua, las sugerencias en la pestaña Compras te ayudarán a limitar la búsqueda a opciones rentables y sustentables.

Apoyando la energía limpia en el hogar

Desde hace más de una década, los termostatos Nest ayudan a ahorrar energía en casa. Hoy damos un paso más conun nuevo servicio llamado Nest Renew. Con una función llamada Energy Shift, los termostatos Nest compatibles pueden ayudar a los usuarios a cambiar automáticamente el uso de electricidad para calefacción y enfriamiento a los momentos en los que la energía es más limpia o menos costosa. Para aquellos que quieran ayudar más a apoyar el crecimiento de la energía limpia, ofrecemos una opción de suscripción paga, Renew Premium, que igualará el consumo estimado de electricidad de combustibles fósiles de los usuarios en el hogar con créditos de energía renovable generados a partir de plantas solares y eólicas de EE.UU.

Nos movemos con mayor sustentabilidad

Viajar en auto es una de las decisiones con mayor generación de carbono que las personas toman a diario. A partir de hoy en EE.UU., y en Europa en 2022, Google Maps te permitirá elegir la ruta con menor cantidad de emisiones de carbono, en el caso que no sea la ruta más rápida. Estimamos que esto podría ahorrar más de un millón de toneladas de emisiones de carbono por año, el equivalente a retirar más de 200,000 automóviles de la carretera, además de permitir a los usuarios ahorrar dinero gracias a la reducción del consumo de combustible.

Puedes escoger la ruta con menor emisiones de carbono en Google Maps.

También estamos trabajando para asegurarnos que los autos que permanezcan en la carretera sean ecológicos. En la Búsqueda de Google, estamos haciendo que sea más sencillo ver las opciones de vehículos híbridos y eléctricos, compararlas con los modelos a gasolina y encontrar descuentos para que sepas el costo real antes de comprar. Estas funciones se lanzarán en EE.UU. este año, y habrá más en 2022.

Por supuesto que, a menudo, la opción más sustentable simplemente no involucra al automóvil. Es por eso que presentamos funciones de navegación más sencillas para los ciclistas en Maps y facilitamos la búsqueda de bicicletas y scooters compartidos en más de 300 ciudades de todo el mundo.

Inteligencia artificial para semáforos más eficientes

Las primeras investigaciones indican que la inteligencia artificial puede ayudar a las ciudades a hacer que sus semáforos sean más eficientes haciendo que cada ruta sea más ecológica, sin importar el medio de transporte.

Las primeras investigaciones indican que la inteligencia artificial puede ayudar a las ciudades a hacer que sus semáforos sean más eficientes haciendo que cada ruta sea más ecológica, sin importar el medio de transporte.

Al mismo tiempo, buscamos formas de hacer que las rutas sean más eficientes en toda una ciudad, con investigaciones iniciales donde se utiliza inteligencia artificial para optimizar la eficiencia de los semáforos. Pusimos a prueba esta investigación en Israel para predecir las condiciones de tráfico y mejorar los tiempos en los que cambian las luces de los semáforos, y observamos una reducción de entre el 10% y el 20% en el combustible y el tiempo de demora en las intersecciones. Nos entusiasma el potencial de estas pruebas y estamos en conversaciones para expandirnos a Río de Janeiro y otras ciudades.

La nube más limpia de la industria

Aparte de a los individuos, ayudamos a clientes empresariales como Whirlpool, Etsy, HSBC, Unilever y Salesforce a desarrollar nuevas soluciones en función de los desafíos específicos del cambio climático que enfrentan, de modo que puedan beneficiarse con la nube más limpia de la industria. Hace poco, lanzamos herramientas para ayudar a las empresas a elegir regiones más limpias donde ubicar sus recursos de Google Cloud. Y la próxima semana, en Google Cloud Next '21, anunciaremos más formas en las que cada empresa puede construir un futuro más sustentable.

Más sustentabilidad con Google

En todos estos esfuerzos, nuestro objetivo es hacer que la opción sustentable sea una elección más fácil. En el nivel individual, estas opciones pueden parecer pequeñas, pero cuando las multiplicas en todos nuestros productos, equivalen a grandes mejoras. Necesitaremos eso y más para prevenir las peores consecuencias del cambio climático. Seguiremos trabajando para generar formas en las que nuestros productos puedan ayudar.

Extending our voluntary return to office

Our CEO, Sundar Pichai, sent the following email to Google employees earlier this morning. The email has been edited to remove internal links.

Hi Googlers,

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a humbling challenge for all of us and I continue to be impressed by the way our teams are navigating through it. In spite of these challenges, I’m happy to say that a large number of offices globally are already open for business, and we are welcoming back tens of thousands of Googlers on a voluntary basis. Given that conditions around the world are still highly variable, I wanted to share how we’re planning to approach the next few months:

  • First, as offices continue to reopen, we hope to see more teams coming together where possible, whether it be for regular team meetings, brainstorming sessions around a whiteboard, or outdoor socials. For some locations, conditions are starting to improve, yet in many parts of the world the pandemic continues to create uncertainty. Acknowledging that, we’ll extend our global voluntary return-to-office policy through January 10, 2022 to give more Googlers flexibility and choice as they ramp back. 

  • Beyond January 10, we will enable countries and locations to make determinations on when to end voluntary work-from-home based on local conditions, which vary greatly across our offices. To make sure everyone has ample time to plan, you’ll have a 30-day heads-up before you’re expected back in the office.

  • Finally, encouraging Googlers to rest and recharge during this time remains a big priority so we will plan two more global reset days next quarter: Oct 22 and Dec 17. 

The road ahead may be a little longer and bumpier than we hoped, yet I remain optimistic that we will get through it together. It’s heartening to see Googlers starting to come back to more offices globally. The ability to reconnect in person has been re-energizing for many of us, and will make us even more effective in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks for all the great work thus far; look forward to a busy Q4 as we continue to find new ways to be helpful to people everywhere. 

-Sundar

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Vaccines and our return-to-office plans

Sundar sent the following email to Google employees earlier this morning. The email has been edited to remove internal links. 

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all taking good care. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve put the wellbeing of our Google community front and center. We’ve done this while also taking care of our customers and partners, launching over 200 new products and features to help people and businesses navigate this difficult time. 

In March of 2020, we made the early decision to send employees home to slow down the spread of COVID. Since then, we’ve extended our Carer’s Leave coverage to help employees care for loved ones. We’ve continued to cover the full wages of on campus workers who couldn't perform their jobs because of office closures. And, we’ve made sure that Googlers and our extended workforce have access to vaccines as soon as they are available locally. Additionally, thanks to the generosity of Googlers and support from Google.org, we've helped Gavi to fully vaccinate over 1 million people in low-and middle-income countries globally. 

Even as the virus continues to surge in many parts of the world, it’s encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available. This is a big reason why we felt comfortable opening some of our offices to employees who wanted to return early. And I have to say it’s been great to see Googlers brainstorming around whiteboards and enjoying meals in cafes again in the many offices that have already re-opened globally. 

Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead. As we look toward a global return to our offices, I wanted to share two key updates:

  • First, anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated. We’re rolling this policy out in the U.S. in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months. The implementation will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area. You’ll get guidance from your local leads about how this will affect you, and we’ll also share more details on an exceptions process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other protected reasons.

  • Second, we are extending our global voluntary work-from-home policy through October 18.We are excited that we’ve started to re-open our campuses and encourage Googlers who feel safe coming to sites that have already opened to continue doing so. At the same time, we recognize that many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the Delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office. This extension will allow us time to ramp back into work while providing flexibility for those who need it. We’ll continue watching the data carefully and let you know at least 30 days in advance before transitioning into our full return to office plans. For those of you with special circumstances, we will soon be sharing expanded temporary work options that will allow you to apply to work from home through the end of 2021. We’re also extending Expanded Carer’s Leave through the end of the year for parents and caregivers.

I know that many of you continue to deal with very challenging circumstances related to the pandemic. While there is much that remains outside of our control, I’m proud of the way we continue to take care of each other while helping people, businesses and communities through these difficult times.  

I hope these steps will give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen. Seeing Googlers together in the offices these past few weeks filled me with optimism, and I’m looking forward to brighter days ahead. 

-Sundar

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A new Android smartphone and 5G partnership with Jio

Editor’s note: Today, we announced the next steps in our partnership with Jio Platforms, including a new, affordable Jio smartphone built with an optimized version of Android OS and a new 5G collaboration powered by Google Cloud. The following is adapted from remarks delivered by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, at Reliance Industries’ Annual General Meeting today.


Thank you to everyone at Reliance Industries for all you do for India — from investing in infrastructure and technology to creating jobs and expanding opportunity to supporting communities in need, especially in this difficult moment for the country.


It’s been devastating to see the country hit so hard by COVID-19. Yet it’s heartening to see how Reliance has stepped up to contribute to the national response and get support to the communities that need it most. On behalf of all of us at Google: We hope you are taking care and we are wishing for better days ahead.


For Google, the past year has brought renewed purpose and greater urgency to our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. At a time when so many aspects of our lives and work are moving online, it’s even more important to make technology accessible and helpful for everyone. 


This goal is at the heart of our partnership with Reliance Jio. I was proud to help launch this partnership last year. It was the first and biggest equity investment from the ₹75,000 crore ($10 billion) Google for India Digitization Fund.


Our vision was to bring affordable access to information for Indians in their own language, to build new products and services for India’s unique needs, and to empower businesses with technology.


I’m excited that today, we can announce the next steps in this vision, starting with a new, affordable Jio smartphone, created with Google. Our teams have optimized a version of our Android OS especially for this device. It will offer language and translation features, a great camera, and support for the latest Android updates.


It is built for India and it will open up new possibilities for millions of new users who will experience the internet for the very first time. And we can’t wait to show you the device later this year.


I’m also proud to announce that we are taking our collaboration further with a new 5G partnership between Google Cloud and Jio.


It will help more than a billion Indians connect to a faster and better internet, support businesses in their digital transformation, and help Jio build new services in sectors like health, education and more — laying a foundation for the next phase of India’s digitization.  

As part of this collaboration, Reliance will also shift its core retail businesses to Google Cloud’s infrastructure. They will be able take advantage of Google’s AI and machine learning, e-commerce, and demand forecasting offerings. Harnessing the reliability and performance of Google Cloud will enable these businesses to scale up as needed to respond to customer demand. 

Empowering businesses as they embark on their digital transformation is a key part of our mission in India, and I’m excited for the innovations this partnership will help unleash. We are proud to play a part in India’s next wave of technological innovation. 


Helping to connect 1.3 billion Indians to the opportunities the internet creates is meaningful to all of us at Google — and certainly to me personally. I know that with greater access to smartphones and improved connectivity, there’s no limit to what India’s people can do. 


We look forward to getting technology into the hands of more people and to exploring what more we can achieve together in the years ahead. 

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Source: Android