Google, a sustainable company

Ana Burguete
Michelle Bustamante
Melanie Cruz
Migdalia Orduño
Fausto Velazquez

Sustainable Development

19/04/17
Introduction
Google is a company founded in 1998. It all started as a research
project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The objective of this project is
to find if Google has sustainability behind it, the reason we chose it,
it’s because Google plays a significant role in our daily lives. Without
digging too much, we all know Google is significantly sustainable; it is
a company that not only receives, but gives. It has environmental
projects that are always looking for new ways of helping the planet,
this year, it expects to be working on 100% renewable energy, has an
ugly food policy, and it’s researching, so that its machines consume
less energy. Google has a person in charge for its sustainability, Kate
Brandt; she was hired by President Barack Obama to work on the
U.S. sustainability, until she was hired by Google.
Justification
We decided to choose this company, because as we mentioned
before, Google has a major importance in our lives. As a future
generation, we have been growing with technology, we are the digital
era, which means that each of us is most of the time by at least one
electronic, from a cellphone, to a tv; but also we get to live in a planet
that our ancestors have destroyed for us, meaning that we must use
every resource we have to contain the problem and deal with it.
Google is a company that is always there, in our phones, in the
streets, inside our home, in the country, even in space with Google
Earth, and it is important that we take such a big company and use it
for good; I don’t mean only taking care of the planet, but rather
staying informed, ignorance is the worst enemy of mankind. We
already had an idea that Google may be one of the top sustainable
companies, but want to know why, and what it does to have this kind
of tittle. It is important for human development because it offers
different ways to keep us updated and to learn something new each
day.
Results
Indicators:
The indicators that we decided to use where the following:
 Poverty
 Education
 Demographics
 Biodiversity
 Economic Development
 Global Economic partnership
Poverty
Income

Most of Google’s services are free, so how can it have an income?

The answer would be Ads, Google’s revenue in 2015 was of 75 billion
dollars, and 52 billion came from the ads. A Google employee
regarding of experience or position makes an average of $126,782
dollars a year; however, factors such as location and experience have
a huge impact on the salary, for example, someone with 4-6 years of
experience in los Angeles base salary is $118k with a total
compensation of $131k, whereas someone in New York city has a
base salary of $131k with a compensation of $191k dollars, meaning
that in some cities Google engineers are needed more.

Sanitation

Google is launching a toiler finder in its Maps engine. The importance

of this is that India is top country on public defecation because locals
and tourists can´t find the toilets around the country. Currently, it is
mapping facilities in India’s National Capital Region —covering New
Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad—and Bhopal and
Indore in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Locals and
tourists can find the information on Google’s mobile app as well as its
desktop site.

Living Conditions

Google´s employees have admitted to live on parking lots owned by

the company.it is a company that takes care of their employees, they
provide a gym, laundry room, a dining area with gourmet meals, and
many more advantages.
Education

Google is understood to be spending over a billion dollars on

satellites to bring internet to developing countries. According to The
Wall Street Journal, it will buy around 180 satellites, designed to sit
lower in the sky than many other models. Greg Wyler is the
responsible of leading this project; he is a satellite communications
expert who reports directly to CEO and co-founder, Larry Page. His
team will compliment Google's existing "Project Loon", which aims to
connect parts of the developing world to the web using other sorts of
technology. As a sustainable company, it is looking out for the 2/3 of
the population in the planet that do not have access to such services,
and it will help them get an economic growth, and chances of better
education by the usage of the internet.
Demographics

Mostly white, mostly male. Regarding the topic, Google admits it

lacks diversity, and it is not where it wants to be. But it is getting
there, the company hires who it finds adequate for the job, regarding
their race, sexual orientation, etc.

“Gayglers

The gayglers are an employee resource group comprised of LGBT

Googlers and their allies. The Gayglers not only lead the way in
celebrating Pride around the world, but also inform programs and
policies, so that Google remains a workplace that works for everyone.

Supporting Native Americans at Google

The Google American Indian Network (GAIN) is an employee

resource group dedicated to leveraging Google's brand, tools, and
energy to make a positive impact in the Native American community.
GAIN pursues this mission by building partnerships to connect
Google teams and initiatives with external Native American
nonprofits, communities, and business groups.

Google Veterans Network

The Google Veterans Network (VetNet) is an employee resource
group and volunteer community for those who have served or
currently serve in the military, military families, and their supporters.
VetNet partners across Google to attract, recruit and retain top
military talent, and works with external partners to extend the
network’s impact in the community. For more information on the
community and opportunities for veterans at Google, check out
g.co/vets.

Greyglers

The Greyglers are an employee resource group that helps Google

stay a top company for workers of all ages by promoting age diversity
awareness. As company elders, the Greyglers explore how Google
can better support the greater community of users of all ages and
inform programs and policies, so that Google remains a workplace
that works for everyone.

Hispanic Googlers Network (HOLA)

HOLA is an employee resource group whose members are committed

to the representation, advancement and inclusion of Hispanic
Googlers and their allies worldwide. HOLA members host events
throughout the year to foster a sense of 'familia' by educating
Googlers about Hispanic culture, providing mentorship opportunities,
inspiring Hispanics to pursue careers in technology, and empowering
other growth and volunteer opportunities in the Hispanic community.
Indus Googler Network

The Indus Googler Network (IGN) is an employee resource group that

aims to build a platform for professional and social activities for those
with an affinity towards South Asian culture. IGN activities include
community service, outreach programs, and cultural celebrations
such as Diwali and Holi.

Mosaic

Mosaic is an umbrella employee resource group created to fit the

needs of our smaller offices. Mosaic's mission is to empower
Googlers and their communities to create significant social and
business impact across diverse groups and perspectives. Mosaic
chapters can be found in various offices throughout the world.

Disability Alliance

The Disability Alliance is a group for Google employees who care

about disability, learning differences, special needs, or neurodiversity,
whether for themselves or a child, relative, or friend. We share
advice, advocate, and build awareness, and we are passionate about
creating innovative and inclusive teams, products, education, and
workplaces.
Women@Google

Creating a network for women

Women@Google is a global network comprised of 10,000+ female
Googlers committed to empowering all women at Google by
connecting, developing, and retaining female talent. The group
provides networking and mentoring opportunities, professional
development, and community to Googler women across 45 countries.
Within Women@, the Google Women in Engineering (GWE) Network
focuses on fostering a sense of community and connection amongst
Google women engineers worldwide. The network is dedicated to
attracting and retaining female engineers, providing opportunities to
develop professionally, and enhancing their experience at Google. To
learn more, check out this Wired article about one of Google’s GWEs,
Melody Meckfessel.”

Article title: Diversity - Google

Website title: Google.com
URL: https://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=overall
Biodiversity

Ecology at Google brings holistic design to our outdoor environments

Along the Southern edge of the San Francisco Bay, our headquarters
sit at the intersection of Silicon Valley’s physical footprint and a
diverse and increasingly fragile ecosystem. From an ecological
standpoint, the area presents both unique challenges and singular
opportunities. Federally protected Burrowing Owls call this area
home, and Snowy and Great Egrets return every spring to raise their
chicks in sycamore trees on our campus. Far above, the Pacific
Flyway buzzes with migratory birds in search of once vast willow
groves.

APA: Andrew Dempsey. (Jan 2017). Ecology at Google brings

holistic design to our outdoor environments. April 19 2017, de Google
Sitio web: https://www.blog.google/topics/environment/ecology-
google-brings-holistic-design-our-outdoor-environments
Economy Development
In Google’s Founders’ Letter, Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote that,
“Our goal is to develop services that significantly improve the lives of
as many people as possible.” An important part of that goal is being a
growth engine that helps companies large and small to be more
successful online; and we’ve continued to focus on building tools to
help business owners grow their companies and operate more
efficiently.
Economic development indicators:
An economic indicator is a piece of economic data, usually of
macroeconomic scale, that is used by analysts to interpret current or
future investment possibilities or to judge the overall health of an
economy. Economic indicators can be pieces of data released by
government and non-profit organizations have become widely
followed. Such indicators include but aren't limited to: the consumer
price index (CPI), gross domestic product (GDP), These economic
development indicators can either attract other companies to invest or
if they dont have a good number have the opposite effect.
Here is a graphic of The Gross Domestic Product
Global Economic Partnership

Google was the last Global Partner accelerating the transition to te

circular economy (The Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced it).

There are five existing Global Partners alongside the scale of Elle
MacArthur: Cisco, Kingfisher, Philips, Renault and Unilever.

Why Global Partners work closely with Ellen MacArthur? Identify the
circular business of opportunities and also to elaborate tangible
programmes that advantage the world. Also the technology
innovation, that helps with the cost of global network and data centers
like the electronic devices market.

Also Google is place a key enabling role in bringing about a system -

level that can accelerate the circular economy (A circular economy is
restorative and regenerative by design, and aims to keep products,
components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all
times).

True circular economy: Regenerated in the bio-cycle with sufficient

energy available.

Article title: Google Becomes Global Partner In The Transition To A Circular Economy
Website title: Ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/the-ellen-macarthur-foundation-
URL:
announces-google-as-a-global-partner
Discussion
Many articles stated that Google is a sustainable company, the main
difference between them and ours, is that we used indicators to prove
it, while the articles based their opinion on what google was working
on, like renewable energy, recycled turbines, etc. By joining all of the
results of the indicators we conclude that it is a sustainable company,
could it be better at being sustainable? Yes, it could, but it is making
advances towards being better, while other companies haven’t tried
this kind of management at all. We expected some results like this,
regarding by the fact that the search Engine has changed its
appearance to represent the LGBT community, ecology, renewable
energy, etc.
Conclusions
Melanie:
Google has an important role in our lives, and I think that is amazing
that they are using their resources and intelligence toward the change
for a better planet, one where we are diverse equally, where there is
no poverty, where we stop destroying our planet. I think that
knowledge like this is important because now you know what the
biggest companies are doing for you but most important, for your
planet, and it may help you decide whether to keep on supporting it or
leaving it because in the long run, it will only do more damage. I have
a lot of respect for Google now, I have always had, but it just
increased since this research, this kind of makes me intrigued by
other companies and to find out what are they doing for the world.

Fausto:
I think it is cool that you can see what is going on inside a company
by just using some indicators, I have always been into technology, so
the fact that google is implementing a lot of technologies to help the
planet and the population is awesome. I think that the knowledge I
acquired is essential because the world is changing, and we must be
informed.

Michelle:
In this project we can see that Google is a great company that makes
a lot for others, I learnt that is a sustainable company and why,
indicators show us the reality behind what media tells us and you can
use them every time you want to know more about a country or a
company. I think that the things that Google is doing are really
important to save the planet and make it a better world for future
generations, and that it may help guide other companies to also do it.

Migdalia:
In this project we got to the conclusion that sustainable development
indicators play a very important role in every company. They can tell
if the company has a sustainable development, how are they growing,
how much they care for the environment and other critical subjects.
As we were doing research about Google we learned how these
indicators can benefit the companies in several ways but majorly in a
positive way. But it is not all about the money they win or profit , but
the help to the environment.

Ana:
I think Google is improving so much because they look forward the
future, also they have an efficient data centers. Less 50% of energy.
less overhead energy and they have ISO certifications. Google has
100% renewable energy and 50%of decreasing carbon intensity.
Google is a company that I look up to, and I can say that I would like
to work in a company that makes a lot of improvements to change the
bad living conditions in which we live.