UN teams up with Google for verified climate information

Science, Solutions, Solidarity

For a livable planet

Millions of people around the world go to Google to get information about climate change and sustainability. Now, when users search for “climate change,” they will find authoritative information from the United Nations in 12 languages including Thai. In addition to organic search results, Google is surfacing short and easy-to-understand information panels and visuals on the causes and effects of climate change, as well as individual actions that people can take to help tackle the climate crisis. 

“We are happy to collaborate with Google to ensure that factual, trustworthy content about climate change is available to as wide a global audience as possible,” said Melissa Fleming, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. “Misinformation is so widespread these days that it threatens progress and understanding on many critical issues, including climate. The need for accurate, science-based information on a subject like climate change to rise to the top of searches has therefore never been greater.”

In his 2021 report, Our Common Agenda, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for tackling the “infodemic” of misinformation plaguing the world and proposed introducing a global code of conduct that promotes integrity in public information and facts and science in public discourse. 

For Google, the search features are part of a larger push to build products and tools that empower people to better understand and limit their personal environmental impact. “Global search interest in ‘how to be sustainable’ reached an all-time high this year,” said Chris LaRosa, Senior Product Manager, when the climate search feature was first launched in three languages last October. “At Google, we believe technology has a crucial role to play in a carbon-free future and we want to help people make more sustainable choices every day.” 

Following the English, French and Spanish versions rolled out last fall, UN climate content is now featured on Google Search also in Thai, Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Vietnamese.

For more information, please see: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/sustainability-2021