Reaching 100% Renewable Energy

At VMware, we’re optimistic about the power of technology to help solve big societal problems and are committed to leading responsibly. One of our key focus areas is about changing our relationship with energy. According to the U.N.’s report, as a society we need to shift 70-85 percent of electricity to renewable energy sources by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Data centers are responsible for two percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions—roughly the same as global air travel. Our virtualization technologies make IT infrastructure dramatically more efficient, fundamentally changing how our customers use power. Through our technologies, we’ve helped customers avoid putting 540 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere—equivalent to powering the population of Spain, Germany and Switzerland for one year.

We’re also aggressively pursuing how we can move to a net-positive global impact across our people, products, and the planet as part of our 2020 Vision. In November 2018, we announced we achieved Carbon Neutrality across our business operations two years ahead of our goal. I’m happy to announce that we achieved another major milestone today—powering 100 percent of our operations with renewable energy and joining RE100—one year early.

RE100 is a global initiative made up of a coalition of companies who have made the commitment to operating their business with 100 percent renewable energy and accelerating change towards zero carbon energy. RE100 is led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP and works to increase corporate demand for–and delivery of–renewable energy. Businesses account for around half of electricity used worldwide. Switching this demand to renewable energy will aid the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. Transitioning all businesses to 100 percent renewable electricity could save nearly 15 percent of carbon emissions worldwide.

We reached RE100 through a combination of strategies:

1. Opting into clean power through our local utilities;
2. Locating our assets in areas with renewable energy; and
3. For areas where that’s not option, we purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) and these are important because they signal demand to the global market for renewable energy, and enable the development of renewable energy infrastructure.

Transitioning to the net zero economy by 2050 requires a systems approach: making our operations more efficient, delivering efficiencies to our partners and customers, and driving the transition to a sustainable economy globally. We are proud to join RE100 and support the transition to renewable energy across our global markets.

You can learn more about the initiative at: http://there100.org/