Facebook and Fujitsu commit to 100% renewable energy

Data processing and storage are known energy hogs and as the tech sector enjoys continued and sustained growth, how the energy intensive storage centres are managed becomes increasingly important. Known for being leaders in innovation, the tech community has also made good on many commitments to work towards more sustainable practices. Now, Facebook and Fujitsu have separately announced plans that they are transitioning global operations to 100% renewable energy.

Both companies join over 100 others in the RE100 project, an initiative launched in 2014 by The Climate Group and CDP, to move influential companies towards clean renewable energy. Facebook and Fujitsu join the ranks of Apple and Google in signing on to the initiative, both of whom have already achieved 100% renewable energy.

Fujitsu’s recent signing with RE100 is part of their larger CSR strategy and had them commit to source 100% renewable electricity by 2050, including an interim target of 40% by 2030. Fujitsu plans to achieve these goals through diverse buying mechanisms as well as on-site generation at various data centres. As a committed energy leader and the largest tech company in Japan, Fujitsu is also investing in R&D in this field.

“Joining RE100 demonstrates our strong intention to deliver on our FUJITSU Climate and Energy Vision. We expect to see opportunities to collaborate with customers and various stakeholders through our RE100 membership,” said Hideyuki Kanemitsu, VP, Head of Responsible Business Unit at Fujitsu.

Facebook, already a signatory of RE100 prior to this announcement, strengthened their commitment and ambitious goal by announcing a 100% move to renewables within the next two years, by 2020. After achieving their goal of 50% renewable energy already in 2017, one year early, the social network upped the timeline of their existing commitment. Facebook is also aiming to reduce their CO2 emissions by 75% by 2020. Facebook’s data centres alone, which hold data for over 2 billion people, account for two thirds of the company’s carbon footprint.

About their new commitment, Facebook’s Head of Global Energy Bobby Hollis said, “There’s the expectation that we have as a company that we think this is good for communities and this is good for the world as a whole, but it’s also good business sense. We really integrate this into our entire business planning process to make sure that we go into places where renewables make sense.”

In the US, the tech sector purchases more renewable energy, usually through local utilities, than any other sector or industry. With such big purchasing power, these major companies are pushing utilities and governments to increase renewable supply, innovate, and create new frameworks to make transitioning to renewable energy easier for major consumers and other tech giants.