- Google CEO Sundar recently announced that Google will be investing 3 billion euros to expand its data centers across Europe over the next two years
Recently, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that he met with Finnish Prime Minister Rinne to discuss his priorities for the European Union Presidency including building sustainable economic growth and achieving a carbon-free future.
“The Nordic countries are great examples of how the internet can help drive economic growth. As part of our vision to build a more helpful Google for everyone, we are supporting Europe’s digital ambitions in two ways,” wrote Pichai in a blog post. “First, by continuing to invest in sustainable digital infrastructure across Europe. Today, I announced that we plan to invest 3 billion euros to expand our data centers across Europe over the next two years. That will bring our total investment in Europe’s internet infrastructure to 15 billion euros since 2007. Our investments generate economic activity for the region and support more than 13,000 full-time jobs in the EU every year, according to a study published today by Copenhagen Economics.”
Plus Google plans to invest another 600 million euros in 2020 to expand its data center presence in Hamina, Finland, which brings the total investment by Google to 2 billion euros since 2009. And its investments will support approximately 4,300 jobs in Finland per year on average over the next two years and beyond.
And Google also made the biggest corporate purchase of renewable energy in history earlier this month. Now nearly half of the megawatts produced will be in Europe through the launch of 10 new renewable energy projects. These agreements are going to spur the construction of more than 1 billion euros in new energy infrastructure in the EU — which includes an offshore wind project in Belgium, five solar energy projects in Denmark, and two wind energy projects in Sweden.
Google is committing to two new wind energy projects that will more than double our renewable energy capacity in the country and ensure the company continues to match almost all of the electricity consumption at its Finnish data center with local carbon-free sources even as it grows the operations.
Finland is educating 1% of its population on artificial intelligence. This is important since 90% of all jobs will require some level of digital skills in the next 10-15 years.
With Grow with Google, the company launched a global effort to provide free trainings designed to help people find a job, advance their career, or grow their business. And in Europe, Google already trained more than 5 million people in digital skills, both online and in physical classrooms.
Recently, Google launched a Grow with Google skills hub called Digital Garage in Helsinki. And Pichai met with several students who attended courses there.
And in order to help more people prepare for the jobs of the future, Google’s philanthropy arm called Google.org provided a $2 million grant to Nesta, which is a foundation that organizes training partnerships with trade unions in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
