Facebook: Commits 75% Lower Emissions, Power 100% Renewable Energy by 2020

In a record-breaking year of corporate renewable energy purchases, Facebook is on track to be one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy.

Social media giant Facebook has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent and powering its global operations with 100 percent renewable energy by the end of 2020.

In a record-breaking year of corporate renewable energy purchases, Facebook is on track to be one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy.

Since its first purchase of wind power in 2013, Facebook has signed contracts for over 3GW of new solar and wind energy that includes over 2,500MW in just the past 12 months.

The company said that, “We are proud of the impact our renewable energy program is having on local communities and the market in general. All of these wind and solar projects are new and on the same grid as our data centers. That means that each of these projects brings jobs, investment and a healthier environment to the communities that host us — from Prineville, Oregon, and Los Lunas, New Mexico, to Henrico, Virginia, and Luleå, Sweden.”

It further added that, “We bring an open and innovative approach to finding renewable energy solutions that fit our needs and can move energy markets forward. We do this by working to enable access to renewable energy resources for other companies and organizations by building infrastructure, opening projects to other buyers or establishing green tariffs, which allow customers to buy renewable energy from their local utilities.”

In 2015, the company had set a goal of supporting 50 percent of its facilities with renewable energy by 2018. It achieved that goal a year early, reaching 51 percent clean and renewable energy in 2017.

Last year, Facebook pledged its support for climate action by supporting the Paris Agreement through the We Are Still In initiative.