Google har afsløret opdateringer til sine Maps og rejsesøgeplatforme designet til at hjælpe brugere med at vælge de mere bæredygtige muligheder.

Oplysninger om kulstofemissioner er blevet tilføjet til Google Flights fra denne uge, så folk kan se den CO2, der er forbundet med hver flyvning og sæde på et fly.

The search giant’s Hotel Search will also make information clearly available on the sustainability efforts by operators in areas like waste management, water conservation and accreditations.

Derudover er Google begyndt at udrulle en miljøvenlig rutemulighed på Maps og har lanceret en redesignet indholdsrig resultatside for folk, der spørger om klimaændringer.

De nye funktioner, der blev annonceret i dag, kommer efter, at Google er blevet den seneste virksomhedsstøtte til Travalyst, det bæredygtige rejseinitiativ lanceret af prins Harry.

Sundar Pichai, administrerende direktør for Googles moderselskab Alphabet, sagde, at firmaet var forpligtet til at hjælpe en milliard mennesker med at træffe mere bæredygtige valg.

“Our goal is to make the sustainable choice the easier choice,” he said. “Individually they might be small, but multiply them together across our projects and that equals big transformations for the planet. There’s no time to waste, so let’s get started.”

Stephanie Horton, Google’s global consumer marketing director, said searches for eco-hotels has doubled as people start to travel again after the COVID pandemic.

“Promoting more sustainable travel is not something we can do alone, that’s why we joined Travalyst to bring standardisation across the industry.

“That will make sure that wherever you are booking your travel you have reliable information and help you make a sustainable decision.”

Pichai added: “Climate change is no longer a distant threat — it’s increasingly local and personal.

“Around the world, wildfires, flooding and other extreme weather continue to affect our health, our economies and our future together on our planet.

“We need urgent and meaningful solutions to address this pressing challenge. That’s why last year we forpligtet til dristig handling at drive vores datacentre og campusser på 24/7 kulstoffri energi inden 2030.

“Companies aren’t the only ones asking what more we can do to help the planet – increasingly people are asking themselves those questions, too.

“So today we’re sharing several new ways people can use Google’s products to make sustainable choices.”

Google arbejder også med byer på et AI-projekt for at få trafiklys til at fungere mere effektivt og har lanceret Nest Renew for at hjælpe husejere med at opvarme deres ejendomme på en mere bæredygtig måde.

It has also pledged to run the cleanest cloud computing platform on the planet and is working with industry giants like Salesforce, Whirlpool, Etsy, HSBC, and Unilever on their sustainability challenges.