GoDaddy's 2022 Sustainability Report: Our Operations - Environmental Impact

Originally published in GoDaddy’s 2022 Sustainability Report

Environmental Impact

We operate with the future in mind.

As a forward-thinking company with a global presence, we are conscious of our responsibility to protect the environment for future generations. We hold ourselves to a high standard of stewardship in areas where we have the greatest impact and influence, and we engage our employees in our determination to operate sustainably.

• APRIL IS EARTH MONTH 
  For Earth Month 2022, GoDaddy went all in with events and opportunities for employee engagement, and we spotlighted GoDaddy employees who went the extra mile to protect the environment. We also incentivized our employees to donate household items for reuse by giving them $20 to donate to an organization of their choice.

Climate Change Commitment

Climate change is a rapidly growing threat to humanity. At GoDaddy, we believe that everyone has a critical role to play in addressing this urgent challenge. In 2022, we issued a position statement on climate change highlighting our stance in support of urgent climate action. We also shared our corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal and our approach to reducing our impact.

• 50%: We are committed to reducing our scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2025 from a 2019 baseline.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In 2022, GoDaddy’s scope 1 and 2 market- based emissions totaled 33,621 mt CO₂e. When compared to our 2019 baseline, we reduced our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 35%. In 2022, our scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions footprint totaled 175,846 mt CO₂e.

2022 Emissions Breakdown

• <1%: Scope 1
• 18.4%: Scope 2 - Market Based
• 60.5%: Scope 3 - Purchased Goods & Services
• 6.4%: Scope 3 - Capital Goods
• 3.8%: Scope 3 - Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities
• 1.8%: Scope 3 - Upstream Transportation and Distribution
• <1%: Scope 3 - Business Travel
• <1%: Scope 3 - Employee Commuting
• 7.5%: Scope 3 - Use of Sold Products
• <1%: Scope 3 - Investments

The Impact of Our Data Centers

Our data centers are the primary driver of our combined scope 1 and 2 emissions. To mitigate these impacts, we are working to reduce the energy usage and footprint required to run our workloads in our data centers. To accomplish this, we are actively consolidating our footprints into larger sites where we can leverage scale efficiencies and improved power usage effectiveness (PUEs), a key measure of data center energy efficiency.

In 2022, we significantly increased our workload density, which allowed us to accelerate our consolidation process and avoid the need for additional data center capacity, all while migrating nine additional data center footprints to larger locations. To track our progress in increasing footprint density over time, we use key performance indicators.

Many of our data centers already leverage resource-efficient technologies. For example, our data center in France uses groundwater for cooling, which significantly reduces energy use. We are committed to continually improving, and we strive to replace inefficient infrastructure where possible. In 2021, we conducted an external energy audit for our largest data centers, and we are using these results to identify additional opportunities for improvement.

Since 2019, for example, all of the data centers we operate in European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) areas used 100% renewable energy from Guarantees of Origin (GOs). We also evaluate renewable energy options for the data centers we operate globally.

The Impact of Our Workspaces

Our hybrid work model reduces demand on physical workspaces, and we continue to seek ways to reduce our environmental impact by promoting sustainable design and optimizing our real estate footprint.

Located in Tempe, Arizona, our headquarters are designed with sustainability in mind, with features including:

• Energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
• LED lighting
• Low-flow plumbing
• Recycling programs
• Solar arrays
• Reclaimed water facilities used for landscaping
• Electric vehicle charging stations

Reducing our environmental impact through portfolio optimization is an important priority for GoDaddy. In 2022, the Global Real Estate team worked to reopen 25 offices around the world while actively optimizing our real estate footprint to meet the needs of a hybrid work model, conserve costs and mitigate environmental impacts. Through this optimization effort, we reduced our active global real estate footprint by approximately 105,000 square feet. This metric reflects properties under our operational control, including owned and leased properties and vacant, non-sublet spaces.¹

• REAL ESTATE FOOTPRINT OPTIMIZATION 
  Over the course of two years, optimization efforts reduced our active corporate real estate footprint by approximately 40% — that’s over 400,000 square feet.

About This Report 
Unless otherwise noted, the GoDaddy 2022 Sustainability Report outlines our environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies, activities, progress, metrics and performance for the fiscal year that ended on December 31, 2022. This report references the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector.

GoDaddy is committed to regular, transparent communication about our sustainability progress, and to that end, we will share updates on an ongoing basis through our website and will continue to publish an annual Sustainability Report.

To learn more, please read our 2022 Sustainability Report.

¹In our 2021 Sustainability Report, “active corporate real estate footprint” included vacant real estate and space available for sublease.