Google says its carbon footprint is now zero

Re:Google says its carbon footprint is now zero by Cro_on on Monday September 14, 2020 @08:39AM (#24469370)

How about the carbon footprint of [insert arbitrary company]'s users while using their services?

It is totally nonsense and doesn't help at all.

Forgiving my own displeasure at google-everything, I think I can at least appreciate that they might not be all evil all the time – perhaps they could even influence people in a positive way?

Also excuse the related tangent and cherry picking, I am not condoning most of China's behaviour, but being big and bad doesn't necessarily mean that they cannot produce positive effects. [0]

[0]https://www.wsj.com/ad/article/chinaenergy-powerhouse

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Re:Google says its carbon footprint is now zero by jurgenaut23 on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:11AM (#24491820)

I am not talking about Google specifically. It is true for any company, you are right, but I don't think you can claim to be have offset your carbon footprint completely until you account for the global impact of your business on this planet.

To give an extreme example, how would you react if Exxon Mobil were to claim to be carbon-neutral because they offset the footprint of all their datacenters, offices, drilling facilities, and supply chain? I am sure you would call bullshit, as their whole business is about extracting carbon from the earth to put it back in the atmosphere.

I just think it is unfair to claim that you have zero impact on this planet until you really offset it for real.

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