Corporate giants Amazon, Cisco, and VMware are throwing their weight behind renewable energy projects and corporate climate commitments to drive seismic, near-term reductions in carbon pollution.

The biggest names – and deepest pockets – in the tech industry have been the largest purchasers of renewable electricity in the U.S. since 2015, according to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) Deal Tracker, which tracks the publicly announced corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), green power purchases, green tariffs, and outright project ownership in the U.S.

Amazon Hits 127 Renewable Energy Projects

Amazon has declared itself the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy.

The self-prescribed title comes as the e-commerce juggernaut announced 26 new solar and wind projects in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. Those projects total 3.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production capacity and bring Amazon’s total investment in renewable energy in 2020 to 35 projects and more than 4 GW of capacity. The 26 additional projects – which were announced with just two full weeks left in 2020 – total the largest corporate investment in renewable energy in a single year, the company claims.

With wind and solar projects already in California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia, Amazon now has 127 renewable energy projects around the world. Its latest investment in wind and solar procurement grew to 6.5 GW, stripping Google (5.5 GW) from the corporate buyer heavyweight title.

Just a day earlier, Amazon added rival Microsoft, consumer-goods giant Unilever, and 11 other companies to its Climate Pledge initiative, which commits the online retail giant to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement 10 years ahead of schedule. 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos earlier this year announced a $10 billion pledge to fight climate change, which he called "the biggest threat to our planet." Bezos said the funds will go toward the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund. Seven months rolled by with no funding news until a mid-November Instagram post from the CEO announcing $791 million in grants as part of the fund to 16 organizations that are working to protect the environment.

Cisco Achieves 100% Renewable Energy in U.S.

Cisco has gone all in on carbon-free energy and announced that it achieved 100% renewable energy for its U.S. operations this fiscal year.

Cisco signed its first long-term wind energy power purchase agreement (PPA) in June to buy power from the Mesquite Star wind farm located in one of the windiest corridors of west Texas. According to the vendor, the wind farm will deliver more than 1.6 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable electricity every year to the local electric grid. Cisco’s 10-megawatt (MW) portion of the 419-MW project will provide approximately 40% of the electricity used annually at Cisco data centers in Richardson and Allen, Texas.

The Mesquite Star project marked Cisco’s first wind energy and third overall long-term renewable energy contract. Cisco dove in the renewable energy pool in 2017, opening its first solar energy facility in Blythe, California, and a second in 2018 in Karnataka, India, to power its campus in Bangalore, India.

This success follows up on an aggressive sustainability goal that Cisco announced last year (on Earth Day) to be 100% renewable energy, zero waste, and water neutral by 2020 at its second largest U.S. campus in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“But we are just getting started,” wrote Irving Tan, EVP and chief of operations at Cisco, in a blog post. “We know that to make a difference in the fight against climate change and waste we have to look beyond our walls.”

Looking ahead to 2025, the vendor is upping its commitment and contribution to accelerate a circular economy with four goals including: 100% of new Cisco products and packaging to incorporate circular design principles; 20% decrease in the use of virgin plastic (FY18 base year); 50% improvement in product packaging cube efficiency (FY19 base year); and 75% reduction in Cisco packaging foam use measured by weight (FY19 base year).

VMware’s 2030 Agenda: Trust, Equity, and Sustainability

“Yes, your generation has accomplished extraordinary things. But did you have to bankrupt the planet?”

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger took that recent jab from his daughter-in-law and turned it into 30 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals as part of the company’s 2030 agenda. Those goals range from hiring one woman for every man, to procuring 100% of its power from renewable energy by the end of the decade.

The vendor said it was focused on building an “equitable, sustainable, and resilient world,” as part of a larger movement among forward-thinking companies and linked to the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Tethered to the 2030 agenda is Gelsinger’s view of VMware’s role in technology as a force for good and the vision of trust. The focus here places security and privacy as top priorities both in terms of innovation and implementation. “By approaching innovation from a foundation of digital ethics and stewardship, and focusing on intrinsic security, privacy-by-design, and transparent business practices, we aim to build and protect trust among our people, customers, partners, shareholders, and communities,” Nicola Acutt, VP of VMware's new ESG office, wrote in a blog post.

On the equity initiative front, by 2030, VMware hopes to hire at least one woman for every man and hopes to hire more women or people from underrepresented communities. To this end, the company is providing “technical and durable digital skills acquisition to more than 15 million individuals,” where tech education isn’t easily accessible.

To further drive sustainable innovation, the vendor has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions, decarbonizing its digital infrastructure from the product ecosystem to supply chain operations. The target is to cut emissions by 50% by 2030, based on its 2018 baseline.

It’s also looking to engage 75% of its suppliers by spend to reduce their emissions by setting science-based targets by 2024, and procuring 100% of their power from renewable energy sources.