Q&A: Adam Elman, Google’s Head of Sustainability EMEA
Google, as a global technology leader, wields immense influence in shaping a sustainable future.
The company commands more than 90% of the global search engine space and provides services from maps to generative AI.
With its vast digital infrastructure, innovative technologies and billions of users worldwide, the company's environmental initiatives have far-reaching impacts.
Google's commitment to sustainability extends beyond its own operations, leveraging its platforms and tools to drive global change.
Adam Elman is Head of Sustainability for EMEA at Google, driving the company’s sustainability agenda across the region.
He has more than 18 years of experience driving positive change for some of the world’s most influential companies.
Adam was part of a panel on AI in Sustainability at Sustainability LIVE London 2024, where leaders from across the industry explored the potential of AI in driving sustainable practices.
He spoke to Sustainability Magazine after leaving the stage.
What started your career in sustainability and how have you seen things evolve?
I've been working in the sustainability space for coming up to two decades now.
I was very lucky to be at Marks and Spencer back in the early 2000s when the company decided to get very serious about sustainability and I got to be part of the team that developed its sustainability programme.
The exciting thing for me is that the sustainability space has really moved from what used to be a small team on the side of the business to really being integrated. Businesses are really recognising that not only do they need to do this because there's regulation, but actually there's real opportunity here and it's the right thing to do.
Are there any innovations or trends that are piquing your interest at the moment?
I think AI has a huge opportunity within the sustainability space. We did some work with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) that showed if we scale up existing AI solutions, there's an opportunity to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10% – that's the same as the emissions from the EU.
There's a huge opportunity here in helping individuals, governments, cities and companies around the world really take action and not only reduce the impacts of climate change, but adapt to climate change. We're doing a lot of the work in the space of flood forecasting and wildfire detection, those sorts of things.
What’s your highlight from Sustainability LIVE London 2024?
I think it’s always great to come to these events and see new faces as there’s so many more people working in sustainability now.
People come to these events to really learn, figure out how they can take further action and figure out how they can work together. In sustainability, collaboration is really key.
I've spoken to a whole bunch of people and I don't know whether next week, next month, that will lead to something that really helps us accelerate our journey or enables us to help someone else.
How do you feel sustainability events contribute to the space?
I think it's hugely important; we're all learning on sustainability. We're all at slightly different places on the journey, but we're always learning.
We're always trying to figure out the things that we need to do. How can we go faster? I think it's a constant learning journey.
I always learn something from these events and I always make new contacts. I think that's why people come to events. They really want to know what they can do and how they can accelerate.
Sustainability is a challenging journey and unfortunately none of us are moving quickly enough. The science is really clear, which is why it's really important that we all come together as businesses and as other organisations to figure out how we can collaborate, how we can accelerate and as I say, from a Google perspective, we can put a lot of tools and solutions using AI that can really accelerate that journey.
How are Google’s sustainability practices going to evolve?
Google's been working on this since the company was founded. We're in our third decade of climate action and our programme and our plans are always evolving.
That said, we've got very ambitious targets. So we're aiming for net zero by 2030 that's supported by our goal to move to what we call 24/7 carbon-free energy. So sourcing clean energy locally every hour of every single day.
We have a raft of other ambitious goals and we're really clear on the goals that we're focused on. We're also focused on building and working with others to use AI to help others on that journey.
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