Social media giant, Facebook, has recently reported 100 per cent renewable energy use for its global operations. In addition, it has also met its goal of reaching net zero emissions as per its 2020 Sustainability Report and has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 94 per cent from 2017 levels. The company has taken a lot of initiatives towards corporate sourcing of renewables and has set a new target of reaching net zero emissions for its entire value chain in 2030.
In fact, by the end of 2020, Facebook’s global portfolio comprised of over 5.9 GW of wind and solar projects under contract, with an operating portfolio of over 2.8 GW assets spread across 15 US states, Europe, and Asia. It has more such projects and contracts in the pipeline, including its first solar-plus-storage project that includes 180 MW of storage capacity across three US states. The company signed contracts for 1 GW of renewable power capacity in 2020 alone.
Moreover, the company’s renewable energy portfolio covered even the electricity use of its employees working from home owing to the pandemic. Further, the company has also invested in high-quality carbon removal projects. These projects have removed 145,000 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
