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Salesforce Takes Another Step Toward 100 Percent Renewables
This morning, Salesforce announced another step made toward the cloud computing giant’s goal of running 100 percent on renewable power.
The company has switched to CleanPowerSF, San Francisco’s clean energy network. The city’s program is part of a statewide initiative that allows business and residents to work with the local utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, in order to deliver clean energy at cost-effective rates for their homes and offices.
According to the company, aligning with CleanPowerSF is key to what Salesforce describes as its path towards becoming a net-zero operation, based on these three pillars: avoid, reduce and mitigate.
On the “avoid” front, the company claims that the multi-tenant architecture of its software platform is 50 times more carbon- and energy-efficient than on-premise software systems. As a result, Salesforce says it was able to displace 2 million metric tons of emissions last year.
“Reduce” involves working with what the company has at hand to make its operations leaner, whether their data centers improve on energy efficiency metrics or its facilities managers can incorporate more green building elements within the office space the company leases. For example, the two main buildings comprising Salesforce’s San Francisco operations are LEED Platinum certified.
Finally, until Salesforce says it is truly running on 100 percent renewables, the company will strive to achieve what it can to “mitigate” its environmental footprint now. To that end, Salesforce signed two power purchase agreements (PPAs) last year that resulted in procuring 64 megawatts of clean wind power.
"Salesforce believes that working towards 100% renewable energy across global operations is one of the most important things we can do to address the effects of climate change," said Suzanne DiBianca, a Salesforce executive vice president, in a public statement. "By choosing SuperGreen, we hope to show that when cities and companies work together to reach shared climate goals the partnership has a unique ability to create positive impact that extends to the surrounding communities and ecosystems.”
Image credit: Salesforce/Facebook
Leon Kaye has written for 3p since 2010 and become executive editor in 2018. His previous work includes writing for the Guardian as well as other online and print publications. In addition, he's worked in sales executive roles within technology and financial research companies, as well as for a public relations firm, for which he consulted with one of the globe’s leading sustainability initiatives. Currently living in Central California, he’s traveled to 70-plus countries and has lived and worked in South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.
Leon’s an alum of Fresno State, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the University of Southern California's Marshall Business School. He enjoys traveling abroad as well as exploring California’s Central Coast and the Sierra Nevadas.
