A First Look at Sustainability Progress
Facebook has published its inaugural Sustainability Report, consolidating data on the company’s environmental footprint and the steps it is taking to meet its 2020 climate commitments. The report arrives as organizations worldwide reassess their approaches to environmental and social challenges, and it is intended to make the company’s progress on sustainability goals easier to track externally.
The headline figures for 2019 show continued movement toward targets set in 2018: a 75 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 2017 levels, with global operations running entirely on renewable energy by the end of 2020. Last year alone, the company achieved a 59 percent reduction in operational emissions versus 2017, and 86 percent of its energy came from renewable sources. That performance placed it first among corporate renewable energy buyers in the United States, according to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, and second worldwide in the ranking from Bloomberg NEF.
Progress was not limited to procurement. Facebook made its first direct investment in a renewable project, the 300 MW Prospero Solar Project in Texas, and funded water restoration efforts designed to replenish 206,000 cubic meters (55 million gallons) per year. In New Mexico, partnerships have restored stream miles, 17 acres of off-channel floodplain wetland habitat, and supported species protection for the Rio Grande silvery minnow, southwestern willow flycatcher, and Rio Grande cutthroat trout.
Beyond the Data Center Fence
Setting aside operational energy use, the company is examining how its infrastructure affects surrounding regions. Its data center in Odense, Denmark, includes a system to capture server heat and feed it into the local district heating network. The project is ramping to deliver 100,000 MWh annually, enough to warm approximately 6,900 homes. That contribution is helping Odense accelerate its own shift away from coal, moving its target to summer 2022 rather than 2030.
The longer-term aim is to add renewable capacity to the same grids where its data centers operate. The company also uses green tariffs, added infrastructure, and project access to broaden the availability of renewable energy for other buyers, not just for its own facilities.
Shared Data and External Partnerships
Facebook is pairing its operational reporting with efforts to support broader climate action. The Climate Conversation Map, developed with global organizations, offers insight into how climate topics spread across public discourse. Partnerships with groups such as We Are Still In, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Stockholm International Water Institute are aimed at advancing sustainable practices in settings beyond the company’s own operations.
The report signals that energy, emissions, water use, and supply chain impact remain priority areas. Facebook states that expansion of this reporting will continue, with the full 2019 Sustainability Report available for further detail on all such efforts.
