The Cloud and Sustainability in the Global Financial Industry

Carbon emissions can be associated with almost every financial transaction or credit check today. Worldwide, billions of transactions occur everyday, equating to nearly 369 billion purchases, over 1 billion credit card transactions, and over 319k new credit originations. Because of this influx of financial occurrences, sustainability is becoming one of the most important topics for consumers, and studies show that 1 in 3 people would pay for more sustainable solutions.

Green trend adoption is becoming increasingly more essential for the financial industry, as 52% of banks see environmental concerns as an emerging risk in the near future. Despite these harrowing claims, 86% of executives in the industry say that they are actively making a difference in advancing sustainability according to a 2022 survey by Google Cloud. Utilizing cloud computing can benefit the environment by minimizing energy consumption, virtualization of physical machines, and eliminating e-waste. Studies show that from 2021 to 2024, continued adoption of cloud computing could prevent up to 1 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions, and customizing applications to be cloud native can stretch carbon emission reduction to 98%.

The Google Cloud further optimizes carbon emissions, and is working towards 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030 by harnessing electricity from the grid and shifting computing tasks to coincide with the cleanest energy on the power grid. The cloud may be the future of a zero-emission financial service industry, allowing companies and consumers alike to feel confident that their practices are safe for their wallets and the environment.

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