Google is partnering up with the UN to monitor humanity's impact on the environment

In brief: The UN announced on Monday that it would be partnering up with Google to take advantage of the search giant's cloud computing technology in the fight against climate change. The UN hopes to use Google's technology to monitor humanity's impact on the environment, allowing for more appropriate plans of action to be implemented over time.

Saving the environment seems to be the collective focus of the tech industry as of late. Even companies that compete quite heavily with each other – such as Google and Apple – are united by the steps they've taken to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and shift their corporate operations to green energy.

With that in mind, it's no surprise to see Google partner up with the United Nations (UN) to monitor and measure the impact humans are having on the environment.

Whether climate change gets better or worse over time, Google and the UN hope to be able to use the information gained through this partnership to develop appropriate plans of action in the future.

"We will only be able to solve the biggest environmental challenges of our time if we get the data right,"

"We will only be able to solve the biggest environmental challenges of our time if we get the data right," the UN's Erik Solheim said in a statement. "UN Environment is excited to be partnering with Google, to make sure we have the most sophisticated online tools to track progress, identify priority areas for our action, and bring us one step closer to a sustainable world."

Google will be assisting the UN by offering up their cloud computing technology and "earth observation public catalogs" to the organization.

According to a UN press release, Google's assistance could prove invaluable, as some of the major roadblocks the UNE faces when attempting to implement "real-time environmental action" are gaps in data.

"We are excited to enable all countries with equal access to the latest technology and information in support of global climate action and sustainable development," said Director of Google Earth Rebecca Moore regarding the UN partnership.