The pandemic might have forced Earth Day 2020 indoors but that didn’t stop some of the world largest organizations from announcing action on the sidelines.

Emissions produced within the ICT sector – which includes devices like computers and phones but also infrastructure like data centers and communication networks – does not seem decidedly significant in generating 1.4% of the global carbon footprint, as reported in a recent Ericsson study. But, if the IT industry can slash its carbon emissions in half in each of the next three decades, it can reportedly help the planet reach net zero by 2050. 

This directly ties into enterprises coming under increased pressure to reduce their carbon footprint. Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft stepped up their Earth Day commitments to environmental sustainability, promising everything from 100% product return to a blockchain-powered, plastic currency converting system. And while this is not a comprehensive list of companies' earth day commitments or actions, it does provide a look into how some of the most influential tech companies are shaping a greener backbone of the future global economy.

Cisco Talks (Zero) Trash

Last year (on Earth Day) Cisco set an aggressive sustainability goal to be 100% renewable energy, zero waste, and water neutral by 2020 at its second largest U.S. campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. By eliminating the use of paper cups in break rooms, providing reusable dishes and flatware, and replacing break room, café, and catering products with compostable options, Cisco delivered on its promise to be a zero-waste campus.    

Cisco also stepped up its commitment to reduce waste production with the relaunch of its Product Takeback and Reuse program. 

“We have to think of recycling as the last resort,” wrote Andrew Sage, Cisco’s VP of Americas Distribution, in a blog post explaining why Cisco relaunched the program. “We want to reuse more of our equipment so that we recycle less.”

A report from the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE) and the United Nations E-Waste Coalition found that society only deals with 20% of e-waste appropriately. The remaining 80% ends up in landfills or is shipped off to developing countries that lack the capacity to reject imports or handle hazardous materials appropriately. 

With Cisco’s product return program, customers can fill out an online form to notify the vendor that an old piece of equipment is ready to be picked up, refurbished, and ready for new life.

Google Gets Smart on Carbon

In 2017, Google became the first company to reach 100% renewable energy consumption from sources like wind and solar. Google’s latest investment in sustainability is a new carbon-intelligent computing platform.

The cloud giant developed the platform to optimize scheduling of compute tasks to run when low-carbon power sources, like wind and solar, are most plentiful. 

“Shifting the timing of non-urgent compute tasks – like creating new filter features on Google Photos, YouTube video processing, or adding new words to Google Translate – helps reduce the electrical grid’s carbon footprint, getting us closer to 24x7 carbon-free energy,” said Ana Radovanovic, Google’s technical lead for carbon-intelligent computing, in a blog post.  

In understanding where the greatest concentration of emissions come from, cloud giants such as Google have identified emission reduction opportunities that will reduce their overall emissions and allow them to profit from improved climate performance.

Looking ahead, Google said it plans to shift load in both time and location to maximize the reduction in grid-level CO2 emissions.

Intel Restores Water

From the deadly bushfires in Australia, withering coral reefs, rising sea levels, and ever more cataclysmic storms water – or lack thereof – is the primary medium through which we will feel the effects of climate change, the United Nations reports. More than 2 billion people live in places experiencing high water stress, resulting in food insecurity and limited access to clean water and sanitation.

Intel in 2017 announced a goal to restore 100% of its global water use. Fast-forward two years and Intel has restored approximately 1 billion gallons of water to local watersheds across the U.S. That’s enough water to support more than 9,000 U.S. homes for a year, Todd Brady, Intel’s director, global public affairs & sustainability, wrote in a blog post announcing the accomplishment.

With the help of nonprofit partners like The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and the National Forest Foundation, Intel has funded 24 water restoration projects benefiting watersheds in Arizona, California, Oregon, and New Mexico, and recently announced its first international project in Bengaluru, India. 

“We call on other companies to join us in funding water restoration initiatives with the community leaders advancing this critical work,” Brady wrote.

IBM Invests in Plastic Currency Exchange

IBM published its first annual Corporate Environmental Report in 1990, helped the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launch the Energy Star program in 1992, and most recently became a founding member of the Climate Leadership Council. IBM President Jim Whitehurst explained the company will be expanding investments in renewable energy to cut down its CO2 emissions with plans to cut emissions by 40% by 2025. 

IBM has also worked with Plastic Bank to develop a blockchain-powered system to convert plastic into a new kind of currency that users can exchange for goods such as food or diapers. The company also partnered with Daimler to use quantum computing to accelerate the development of next-generation batteries.

It's also offering two new activity toolkits: The Plastics Activity Kit, which calculates plastic consumption and offers sustainable practices, and The Energy Sustainability Starter Kit for developers looking to build energy-efficient consumer products.

“Will we come together – all of us, around the world – and use our collective genius to make the world more livable, more sustainable for future generations,” asked Whitehurst rhetorically. “I believe the answer is yes.”

Microsoft Moves on Planetary Computer

Microsoft earlier this year said it would be carbon negative by 2030, and that it’s looking to make up for all of the carbon emissions it has ever produced by 2050. It also developed the Microsoft Sustainability Calculator to help its customers track carbon emissions data associated with their Azure cloud usage. 

As a followup to January’s carbon initiative launch, Microsoft announced the second phase of its AI for Earth program with a new biodiversity initiative in the form of a “Planetary Computer.” The goal is to utilize the power of data and digital technology to enhance environmental decision making. 

“We do not know enough about species, biodiversity, and ecosystems that are vital to our health and prosperity. Simply understanding where the world’s forest, fields, and waterways are remains a daunting task of environmental accounting,” Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post. “We simply can’t solve a problem we don’t fully understand.”

The Planetary Computer will allow the AI for Earth community – through more than 500 grants in 81 countries – to access critical environmental data sets, and a computing platform to analyze those data sets. The company said it will increase its investments in specific environmental areas such as species identification, land cover mapping, and land use optimization. 

Microsoft also announced a new AI for Earth collaboration with the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network to support projects that fortify efforts to monitor Earth’s biodiversity to inform conservation decisions across the globe.