Facebook has established a science-based target to reduce its operational emissions by 75% by the end of 2020 compared with 2017 levels and has already reduced its greenhouse gas footprint significantly. In 2019, the company reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 59% compared with 2017 levels.
The company has committed to accelerating the renewable energy transition and set an aggressive goal to support its global operations with 100% renewable energy in 2020. Facebook was one of the first tech companies to commit to supporting its facilities with renewable energy. In 2019, it achieved 86% renewable energy and was recognized as the No. 1 buyer of renewable energy in the U.S. by the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance and No. 2 in the world by Bloomberg NEF.
Investments
Since its first wind contract in 2013, Facebook has contracted for over five gigawatts of new solar and wind energy, all in the same power grids where its data centers are located. This is equivalent to powering more than 1.6 million U.S. households.
In 2018, corporate renewable energy procurement doubled from 2017. Facebook added over 2.6 gigawatts, which accounted for approximately 20% of the global corporate renewable energy volume.
Innovations
In 2019, Facebook launched the Climate Conversation Map, which allows researchers and partners to identify and map conversations on climate change around the world. This map helps organizations better understand where, when, and how Facebook users are interacting with climate-related news.
The company’s collaboration with the United Nations demonstrates the potential for its platforms to serve as powerful tools to generate support for climate action. For example, Facebook Live studios have been at the UN climate change conventions since 2016, and the People’s Seat campaign on Facebook and Instagram reached heads of state and over 1 billion people. In 2018, the United Nations’ ActNow Messenger bot fostered over 100,000 actions.
For more information, visit https://sustainability.fb.com.