Clean energy purchasing blitz allows tech giant to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions by 94 per cent in three years, company announces
Facebook has today announced it has achieved net zero operational emissions after switching all its data centres and buildings to run on renewable power and securing carbon offsets to cover its remaining emissions.
The tech giant said it achieved its target in 2020, after a number of clean energy projects it had invested in started generating power. The firm, which is the third largest corporate buyer of clean energy in the world, has embarked on a major clean energy purchasing spree in recent years and claims to now have contracts for more than 6GW of wind and solar energy in place.
These investments have enabled the company to reduce its operational greenhouse gas emissions by 94 per cent on 2017 levels, exceeding its 2020 target of a 75 per cent cut in emissions, Facebook said.
It emphasised all the renewable energy projects it is involved in across 18 states and five countries are new and are connected to the same grid as Facebook's data centres, delivering an estimated $8bn in project investment and supporting "tens of thousands" of contruction jobs.
A spokesperson for the company also confirmed that in addition to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.6 million metric tons through its renewable energy commitments, the company had also supported carbon removal offsets to cover residual emissions that amounted to approximately 37,700 tons.
Facebook said it would now continue to ramp up its climate investments as it worked to deliver a separate goal of achieving net zero emissions across its value chain by 2030.
The company has been working to enhance its environmental reputation after being widely criticised by campaign groups, lawmakers, and environmentalists for its historic reliance on coal power for its data centres and its role in the spread of climate misinformation online.
Facebook announced it had achieved 'net zero' operational emissions as it published the results of a major survey that revealed a widespread public desire for more climate information.
The poll, which was run in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and run across 30 countries, found that three-quarters of people believed that climate change was happening and six in 10 wanted more information on the issue.
The company said its Climate Science Information Centre would host a virtual event to mark Earth Day next week that would see world leaders, public figures, grassroots activists, musicians discuss climate action in partnership with Earthday.org.
The move follows the launch of a new trial by the company in the UK in February that will see all posts about climate change automatically labelled with a dedicated banner that directs people to accurate climate science data provided by the company's new Climate Science Information Centre. And earlier this month, it announced that its 'oversight board' - a group of experts tasked with reviewing contentious content posted on Facebook - had been given new powers to examine appeals over content the usual moderation process had left intact.