Facebook now running entirely on renewable energy

Facebook will aim to reach net-zero emissions across its entire “value chain” by 2030

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) said on Thursday that it has reached its target of powering its worldwide operations from renewable energy.

The social networking company, founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, confirmed it fell short of reaching its initial 2020 deadline.

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Facebook will now expand its efforts on reaching net-zero emissions across its entire “value chain” by 2030. This includes suppliers as well as actives such as travel and employee commuting.

The Nasdaq-listed company first disclosed plans to push for 100% renewable energy in 2018 as major technology companies made efforts to offset their impacts on the environment. That was two years after the Paris Climate Accord which saw 143 countries make pledges to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius.

Facebook also confirmed an agreement to purchase renewable electricity from a power plant in India as part of a wider plan to become a supplier of green power in the country.

The social media giant said it will buy electricity from a 32Mw wind power project in southern Karnataka state run by partner CleanMax.

The deal is one of several projects that CleanMax are working on and India is one of Facebook’s largest markets in terms of its user base.

Power usage by data companies and also bitcoin mining and how it affects the world’s climate are becoming increasingly important issues for companies such as Facebook.

Data centres such as those used by Facebook use up as much as 1% of the world’s total energy.

Fellow FAANG stocks – Apple, Amazon and Google – as well as Microsoft, have all put forward respective climate targets and spent vast sums in an effort to eliminate carbon-emitting generation.

Pressure could come from investors not only to abide by ESG principles but to maintain growth and so it could be a fine balancing act for the companies.

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