This week world leaders gathered in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Google participated in a range of UNGA-related engagements as part of our commitment to collaborate with international organizations to achieve collective solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Here are just a few of the many topics we covered:

Global governance in a digital era

The global internet was built to be a shared resource that everyone could access wherever they lived — but over the last few years this ideal has been increasingly challenged. Regulatory barriers to the free flow of information across borders are threatening to fragment the internet. New and revitalized global governance frameworks are needed for an increasingly digitized world, and international organizations will be critical to achieving them, which is why we support the UN Global Digital Compact.

Over the course of this week, we had various conversations about what needs to be done to ensure that the internet remains open, secure and reliable for everyone. Preserving the cross-border availability of secure technologies and digital services – coupled with forward-looking decisions by governments to invest in digital infrastructure and digital skilling – can protect access to information everywhere and ensure that the benefits resulting from the global internet are preserved.

Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was a key topic during this week’s UNGA. The 17 UN SDGs were created “to make a better world for everyone, now and into the future.” They include goals like achieving gender equality, ensuring quality education and tackling economic inequality. At Google, we see countless ways in which technology can help accelerate progress on these goals.

While the global community has made some important progress in meeting the SDGs since they were launched in 2015, headwinds persist due to Covid-19 and global conflict and, unfortunately, not a single country is on track to meet all 17 goals by 2030. To that end, Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org recently announced that we are expanding these efforts through a $25 million commitment to support NGOs and social enterprises using artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate progress in achieving the SDGs.

A number of the SDGs – ensuring sustainable cities, and access to affordable and clean energy, for example – were established with sustainability top of mind. And as our CEO has said before, solving climate change is humanity’s next big moonshot. Working together, governments, companies, and citizens can create technology-enabled, scalable solutions that deliver a prosperous, carbon-free future for all of humanity.

As a company we've been carbon neutral since 2007, and by 2030 we aim to achieve net zero emissions across our operations and value chain, and to run our data centers and offices entirely on carbon-free energy. As we work towards these goals, we’re collaborating with partners to share tools and resources to make clean energy achievable for all, such as the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Hub and Academy launched earlier this week. And we continue to partner with UN Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, and dozens of companies and cities around the world to grow the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.

Ukraine

The war in Ukraine continues to be both a tragedy and a humanitarian disaster. Since the war broke out, our team has worked around the clock to combat disinformation, elevate authoritative content across our services, protect cybersecurity in Ukraine and globally, while also providing humanitarian assistance and supporting the region more broadly. This week, we were honored that Sundar was selected as a recipient of one of this year’s Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards, in recognition of Google’s efforts in response to Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine, our commitment to digital resilience, and our ongoing support for refugees and displaced people throughout the world.

International organizations like the United Nations are unique in their ability to convene countries from all over the world, and we are pleased to collaborate closely with member governments to play our part.

Editor's Note: Today, Google is launching the Portulans Institute’s first global Future Readiness Economic Index at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly. This report covers 124 economies, is designed to help countries accelerate digital transformation, and a new online toolwill allow anyone to assess how stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth can be achieved.

The world continues to face a great deal of uncertainty. The pandemic touched every corner of the globe; conflicts have wreaked havoc on food security and energy prices; and climate-related disasters are becoming all too frequent. Being prepared for uncertainty and ready to adapt to current and future challenges is more essential than ever.

Central to this idea of readiness is digital transformation — no longer seen as a luxury, but a necessity. We have witnessed unprecedented technological advancements in the last few decades that have brought us closer together and made our societies and economies more interconnected. New possibilities have emerged from the digital revolution, including new ways to address long-standing challenges and the promise of a more equitable and sustainable future. Despite the acceleration of digital transformation that we’ve seen, there are still numerous issues to address before technology’s potential can be fully realized.

“The Digital Sprinters”

With this context in mind, we launched our Digital Sprinters initiative in November 2020, aiming to provide a blueprint for emerging countries to accelerate their digital transformation.

As we shared in our Digital Sprinters 2020 report and framework, digital transformation will require investment by governments and the private sector in infrastructure, people, technological innovation and public policies:

• Infrastructure: Investing in digital connectivity and secure and environmentally sustainable infrastructure. It’s not just about investment but also how the infrastructure is managed.
• People: Preparing people across all communities for the jobs of the future.
• Technological innovation: Deploying technological innovation that can unlock new opportunities. Increasing the use of data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which empower the growth of next-generation technologies. This means new opportunities alongside new questions about how best to harness these technologies.
• Public policies: Supporting a regulatory ecosystem that promotes competitiveness. Advancing policies that encourage competitive and open markets, interoperable regulatory standards, and tax regimes that are predictable and based on international standards.

The Future Readiness Economic Index

Building on the Digital Sprinters framework, in 2021 Google commissioned the Portulans Institute’s first edition of the Future Readiness Economic Index (FREI). The index gives governments, businesses and analysts comprehensive metrics and milestones to assess their digital transformation.

That original index focused on 27 countries — but future readiness matters globally. That’s why today we’re launching Portulans Institute’s first global Future Readiness Economic Index at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly. The report covers 124 economies and helps countries in assessing how ready they are for the future, and how they can accelerate their digital transformation for stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Assessing trends is an inexact science. But by breaking down the data in critical areas like infrastructure, talent development, skills matching, and technology adoption, the Future Readiness Economic Index can help countries focus their efforts to get the biggest returns on investment. For example, the Index suggests that the United Arab Emirates, which ranks 27th globally on the Index, could sprint ahead by encouraging greater research and innovation in emerging digital technologies like cloud, AI and machine learning; while Mexico, which ranks 62nd on the index, would benefit from expanding Internet access and bandwidth, as well as improve energy consumption efficiency.

This year’s report is accompanied by an online tool that will allow anyone interested in digital transformation to simulate, compare and assess how it can be achieved.

Seizing the opportunity to sprint ahead

Generally speaking, the most future ready economies are mostly high-income countries, with Singapore leading the world in this regard. Those that score highly all have in common solid institutions and infrastructure, and good all-around performances across all FREI pillars.

Many emerging countries are lagging in future readiness — held back by weaknesses across all four pillars. Accelerating digital transformation would be a game changer for such countries. In fact, according to a Digital Sprinters studyby the strategic economics consultancy AlphaBeta, accelerating digital transformation could add half a trillion dollars to the annual GDP of three African countries (Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa), and over a trillion dollars to the annual GDP of the six largest economies in Latin America, by 2030. In this journey emerging countries have a key advantage. Unlike more developed economies, they can leapfrog ahead, building advanced tools from scratch rather than upgrading or replacing outdated legacy infrastructure.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to becoming future-ready. Countries should pick and choose the tools best suited to their needs and objectives. The Index provides some objective comparisons to help determine which policies, technologies, and balance of human capital, infrastructure and other critical elements might work best.

By highlighting the gaps in policy, technology, human capital and physical capital, the Future Readiness Economic Index is aimed at providing governments around the world with insights on both challenges and opportunities. We hope it can equip them with some helpful tools to spur future progress.

Today, a United States District Court struck down large parts of Texas Attorney General Paxton’s case as being "not plausible."

Importantly, the Court dismissed the allegations about our Open Bidding agreement with Meta — the centerpiece of AG Paxton’s case. Despite his allegations, this has always been a well-publicized, pro-competitive agreement.

The Court also agreed that many of AG Paxton’s claims relating to our technology innovations and practices — like Open Bidding and Accelerated Mobile Pages — are not plausible violations of antitrust law. The Court dismissed his claims about Privacy Sandbox too.

Today's decision underscores how AG Paxton's case is deeply flawed. As we’ve long said, advertising technology is a fiercely competitive industry — and our products increase choice for publishers, advertisers and consumers while enabling small businesses to affordably find new customers. We look forward to setting the record straight about the remaining claims.

The Android app economy has helped create nearly two million American jobs; developers around the world have earned more than $120 billion using the Google Play Store. We’re proud that Google Play helps developers build great apps and rewards them for doing so. And we know that a successful ecosystem must benefit both developers and consumers, which is why we have rules of the road to keep the store secure, protect privacy and prevent fraud. While we strive to make Google Play the best platform for everyone, Android also provides consumers and developers the opportunity to use other app store options.

Today, we’re pleased to share a proposed agreement that will help ensure that both developers and consumers can continue to benefit from Google Play. Google and a group of U.S. developers have reached a proposed settlement that allows both parties to move forward and avoids years of uncertain and distracting litigation.

As part of the settlement, we’re establishing a $90 million fund to support U.S. developers who earned two million dollars or less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021. A vast majority of U.S. developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose. If the Court approves the settlement, developers that qualify will be notified and allowed to receive a distribution from the fund.

In addition to the fund, we’re committing to maintain a number of existing practices and implement new benefits that help developers innovate and communicate with their users:

• To continue to provide developers with a tiered pricing model, we’ll maintain Google’s 15% commission rate for the first $1 million in annual revenue earned from the Google Play Store for U.S. developers, which we implemented in 2021.
• We’re revising our Developer Distribution Agreement to make it clear that developers can continue to use contact information obtained in-app to communicate with users out-of-app, including about subscription offers or lower-cost offerings on a rival app store or the developer’s website.
• In new versions of Android, Google will maintain certain changes implemented in Android 12 that make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices, while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place.
• To showcase independent and small startup developers building unique high-quality apps, we’re creating an “Indie Apps Corner” that will appear on the apps tab on the U.S. Google Play homepage and shine a spotlight on these developers.

These commitments, including the $90 million fund, build on a number of ways we already support developers, such as providing tools that help developers build great apps, lower their costs, and grow their businesses. In fact, compared to other prominent digital content stores, we provide developers more ways to interact with their customers.

Finally, we’ve heard developers want to understand more about how Google Play operates, which is why we’ve agreed to publish annual transparency reports. The reports will share information about the Google Play Store, including statistics such as apps removed from Google Play, account terminations, and other data regarding how users interact with Google Play.

We’re pleased that we worked with the developers to propose this agreement for the Court’s approval. As the agreement notes, we remain confident in our arguments and case, but this settlement will avoid protracted and unnecessary litigation with developers, whom we see as vital partners in the Android ecosystem. We remain steadfast in our commitment to building thriving, open platforms that empower consumers and help developers succeed.

A healthy economy exists only when opportunities to participate are open to everyone. Google has long worked to make that possible through efforts such as our Google Career Certificates, the Grow with Google Small Business Fund and our commitment tosupplier diversity. Core to this work is our belief that progress is best achieved when we partner with others to scale these efforts.

Consistent with that approach, today Google is proud to help launch the Economic Opportunity Coalition, a group dedicated to building an equitable economy. Google intends to work alongside others in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to find ways to help close the racial wealth gap in the United States. The Coalition has identified four focus areas: investing in strengthening community finance organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, improving financial health and addressing infrastructure needs, such as affordable housing.

At Google, we have pioneered solutions to these issues and continue to do so. For example, our $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund focuses on Google’s digital skills training program and introduces a new financing model to provide loans and grants to students through Social Finance, a leading national nonprofit in the field of workforce development. Another example is our funding to Opportunity Finance Network to help Community Development Financial Institutions, which provide capital to underserved small businesses.

Our work in this regard contributes to sustainable economic growth, and the efforts of others in the Coalition will amplify our impact. Building a world in which everyone has access to opportunities will help foster more vibrant economic communities, and we look forward to others joining us in the Economic Opportunity Coalition and contributing to this important work.

The value and convenience of the global internet relies upon the free flow of information across borders: collaborating with global colleagues, speaking with a loved one via Google Meet, finding directions to the closest pharmacy on Google Maps, or finding and buying everyday items online. Global data flows make these daily activities work seamlessly, and support the health and growth of the modern digital economy and the opportunity it promises for users around the world.

As governments explore new rules governing data transferred abroad, there is an unprecedented need for global, interoperable solutions. Companies, governments, and policymakers must work together to create new legal and technical tools, set out interoperability standards, and most importantly, align on new frameworks to maintain both privacy and essential data flows.

One of these global solutions is the recently announced Global Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR), a privacy certification that will allow companies to demonstrate their compliance with government-approved requirements for data protection, backed by a review of those protections by a third-party. The Global CBPR system is an important step toward enabling continued, trusted data flows between participating jurisdictions, and Google is committing to certifying under the future Global CBPR system.

How collaboration will help ensure the future of data flows

When governments announced the formation of the Global CBPR Forum earlier this year, designed to oversee the Global CBPR system, Google was honored to participate in the first meeting along with representatives from 20 jurisdictions. What we shared and heard from the governments at the Forum was a desire to solve the problem of trusted data flows together.

At the Global CBPR Forum, industry players and government representatives sounded a clear call for the certification program to find the right balance between holding companies accountable for their data use, protecting individuals from harm and misuse, and helping maintain the trust within the ecosystem that enables innovation and change, all while being globally scalable.

The Global CBPR system advances efforts to protect the digital ecosystem from fragmentation, which would come at a cost to access to information as well as opportunities and livelihoods for people around the world. This is a critical moment for governments to work with industry and other stakeholders to stabilize the regulatory landscape so that companies can confidently offer products and services that rely on international data flows without compromising privacy protections. The Global CBPR system is one step towards that clarity and security.

Next steps for Google and the Global CBPR system

Our investment in privacy and security is at the core of every product we build. We will bring this experience to the conversation to help build a robust Global CBPR system. We will work with our partners to provide input through the Global CBPR Forum on the practical realities of services facing fragmented privacy regulations. This global fragmentation is a challenge for any business, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who often don’t have the resources to navigate a patchwork of laws. We also encourage the governments of the Global CBPR Forum to work with academics and civil society to understand how to make CBPR requirements scalable and able to bridge divergent legal requirements and cultural expectations of privacy.

We are also committed to finding ways to help and support Google customers to certify to this global standard, especially among small and medium enterprises. This kind of support will help scale these key privacy protections to more users, strengthening the businesses of our customers. We will continue to look for ways in the future to support participation in the US and globally in the CBPRs to raise privacy protections for users around the world.

The creation of the Global CBPR Forum is part of a global conversation on bringing strong, interoperable privacy protections to our users and the users of countless other companies around the world. We look forward to the Global CBPR Forum establishing new requirements and will certify to the system at the first opportunity.