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The Challenge: Renewable Energy for the Supply Chain at Scale
Google began purchasing clean energy in 2010, and since then has signed more than 115 agreements to purchase over 14 GW of clean energy generation capacity—the equivalent of more than 36 million solar panels. In 2021, Google set an ambitious goal to reach net zero for its operations and value chain by 2030.
As part of Google’s net zero commitment, they are working to facilitate reliable and cost-effective clean energy for their hardware supply chain. However, transitioning suppliers to clean energy can present complex challenges. Many cloud supply chain partners don’t share their same sustainability goals and are located in regions with maturing energy markets.
When searching for a partner to support their supply chain decarbonization goals, Google sought to identify an organization with a mature cloud based solution, wide geographical coverage, intuitive user interface, scalability, and subject matter expertise.
To support Google’s objectives, Ren Energy provided supply chain clean energy mapping, ingesting scope 3 data into the platform which helped the Google team roadmap possible scope 3 decarbonization initiatives as well as track progress.
Supply Chain Energy Mapping
Ren Energy enabled Google to consolidate information about the many server components powering Google data centers. Understanding the carbon emissions associated with CPUs, GPUs, TPUs, memory, hard drives and other components gave Google the insight to understand which regions were most in need of clean energy solutions.
To operationalize this, Google’s Supply Chain Net Zero Supplier Engagement team collected electricity demand from their key suppliers to populate the Ren platform.
Internal Scope 3 Data Sharing
Ren Energy's cloud-based supply chain mapping and decarbonization roadmapping capabilities improved collaboration between internal teams by allowing them to efficiently share information and prioritize their collaborative efforts in support of suppliers.
This has ensured that teams are always operating with the latest data and information about suppliers. It has also resulted in an ability to share critical information with Google’s executive teams.
Monitoring Progress
Ren Energy's platform automated what was previously a very manual and time consuming task for Google. Housing data in Ren’s platform at the supplier facility level has enabled Google to easily track suppliers’ progress towards shared goals.
The Ren platform has also greatly facilitated reporting, which allows stakeholders across the company to stay informed.
“Ren Energy has been a valuable partner for Google. Ren has helped streamline our understanding of the supply chain energy landscape and also empowered us to work more effectively with our cross-functional partners. We're excited to drive progress toward a more sustainable future.”
Jack Keais
Supply Chain Sustainability Program Manager
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