How Google Is Building Trust through Sustainability

Google continues to show how a global brand can build trust by demonstrating a commitment to corporate social responsibility. The company recently announced that it will block ads denying climate change. This policy will apply to all Google brands including YouTube. This is the latest in a series of moves by Google to back statements with actions when it comes to sustainability. 

What Google Announced 

In an October 7 blog post, Google’s Ads team said that Google “will prohibit ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change. This includes content referring to climate change as a hoax or a scam, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming, and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.” 

The new policy will apply to all Google advertisers, publishers, and YouTube creators. 

Of course, sustainability is one of the most compelling topics of our time. But not all businesses explicitly block ads that deny climate change. (Facebook, for one, does not ban such ads.) Google says that the company is being responsive to advertisers who are concerned about their content appearing alongside inflammatory content:

'In recent years, we’ve heard directly from a growing number of our advertising and publisher partners who have expressed concerns about ads that run alongside or promote inaccurate claims about climate change. Advertisers simply don’t want their ads to appear next to this content. And publishers and creators don’t want ads promoting these claims to appear on their pages or videos.'   

Google already limits or restricts advertising alongside certain sensitive topics or events, such as videos related to firearms – so a move like this is hardly unprecedented at a time when advertisers are placing a bigger priority on brand safety. But blocking ads that deny climate change aligns the company’s advertising policies with its corporate stance on sustainability. As Google said in its announcement, “This new policy not only will help us strengthen the integrity of our advertising ecosystem, but also it aligns strongly with the work we’ve done as a company over the past two decades to promote sustainability and confront climate change head-on.” 

In recent days, Google has shared some other actions designed to promote sustainability and fight climate change. For instance, in an October 6 blog post, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, announced some significant ways that Google is making its products more sustainable, including: 

• Bringing carbon emissions information to Google Flights. When travelers book flights, they’ll be able to see associated carbon emissions per seat for every flight, and quickly find lower-carbon options. When travelers search for hotels, they’ll see information on their sustainability efforts, including whether they are EarthCheck certified. 
• Making it possible for Google Maps to let people on the move choose the most fuel-efficient route if it isn’t already the fastest one. Google says that this action could save over one million tons of carbon emissions per year (the equivalent of removing over 200,000 cars from the road) and save people money by reducing fuel consumption. 

Read more detail from his blog post here.  

Google Builds Trust 

Corporate social responsibility is one of the four principal foundations of building corporate trust, along with reputation management, recruitment, and amplifying content through reach. As discussed in our report Building Trust through the 4Rs, only 38 percent of people believe businesses are doing well or very well at putting people before profits. Companies that master corporate social responsibility are creating a competitive advantage that will cement emotional trust with all their stakeholders from investors to job seekers. But to build that trust, brands need to show what they are doing about social issues. 

Google’s recent announcements stand out because Google: 

• Calls out sustainability. Nine in 10 executives who worked on sustainability issues reported that investments increased and will continue accelerating along a similar trajectory over the next three years, according to Gartner. That comment is reflected in the number of advertisers who voiced their concerns to Google about their content appearing next to ads denying climate change. 
• Discusses actions to back its words. Statements are important. But companies need to report actual actions to back their statements. 70 percent of US consumers want to know what the brands they support are doing to address social and environmental issues, and 46 percent pay close attention to a brand’s social responsibility efforts when they buy a product.  
• Gives its CEO a platform to blog about the company’s efforts. 86 percent of people expect CEOs to publicly speak out about societal issues, local community issues, job automation, and pandemic impact, according to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer. 
• Manages its narrative. Publishing these actions on Google’s blog is important. By using its website as a home base, Google extends more control over its story. In an increasingly digital-first world, websites are essential owned media for any brand to tell its story. But Google also leans into social media and public relations to amplify these posts – an example of building trust through reach.  

The commitment to sustainability is but one of many examples of how Google acts as a purpose-driven brand. For example, Google is a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. These types of efforts not only build trust with consumers and purpose-driven investors but also make the company more attractive to job seekers whose values align with Google’s. 

Learn more about effective management of corporate social responsibility in our report, Building Trust through the 4Rs.  

Contact IDX

IDX helps businesses build trust with all their audiences through an approach known as ConnectedContent, in which we align all aspects of a brand’s narrative with its values and culture. To learn more, contact us.