During April of 2018, Google announced to the world that it had become the largest corporate purchaser of clean, renewable energy – for every kilowatt-hour of non-renewable energy they use, they purchase one kilowatt-hour of green power. Sustainability, Google has always claimed, is one of the company's main ideals.

To prove that this claim is more than just lip service, Google's chief of sustainability Anna Meegan announced today that 100 percent of all its shipments – both to and from consumers – will be completely carbon neutral by the start of 2020. This likely means Google will purchase enough carbon offsets to mitigate the carbon footprint these shipments leave behind.

By 2022, Google hopes to achieve a much more ambitious plan. The tech giant says all of its Made by Google products (which include Pixel smartphones, Google Home speakers, etc.) will "include" recycled materials. That doesn't mean Google devices will be entirely built from these materials, but the company does say it will strive to "maximize" recycled content whenever possible.

This commitment, among other sustainability-oriented projects, is how Google says it will leave people and the planet as a whole "better than [it] found them." Only time will tell if Google will be able to follow up on its promises.