ASSESSMENTS

Why More Global Corporations Are Betting on Renewables

Sep 28, 2018 | 10:00 GMT

Rows of solar panels are seen at a Tekno Ray Solar farm on Sept. 13, 2018, in Konya, Turkey.

Rows of solar panels are seen at a Tekno Ray Solar farm on Sept. 13, 2018, in Konya, Turkey. Global corporations are blazing a trail in terms of adopting renewable energy.

(CHRIS McGRATH/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Major global technology and other corporations are committing to the direct purchase of renewable energy to power their operations, in part due to the falling costs of renewables and a desire to burnish their environmental credentials.
  • The green turn will continue to deepen, not only creating additional demand for renewables but also encouraging smaller suppliers to work toward greater sustainability.
  • These changes will help facilitate the longer-term transition currently occurring in energy and, increasingly, in transport.
  • Despite these changes, heating will remain a longer-term challenge.

Facebook recently heralded that it will source 100 percent of its electricity consumption from renewables by 2020, representing the latest direct renewables purchase by a major global corporation. The social media site joins Apple and Google, which already power all their operations using renewable electricity. But while Silicon Valley's giants are clearly among the leaders in embracing green electricity, other industrial and commercial segments are not far behind. The materials segment, including metals, is the largest consumer of directly sourced renewable electricity. For instance, metals giant Alcoa sources 75 percent of the energy required for its smelters from renewables, while mining giant Rio Tinto acquires just under half of its energy from such sources. In telecommunications, AT&T and T-Mobile are pursuing aggressive renewables plans, and there are others on the cutting edge in retail, including Wal-Mart, Ikea, Nike and Starbucks. Volkswagen, in turn, leads the way for renewables in manufacturing...

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