Salesforce Has Reached Sustainability Aims Using Green Energy and Offsets

Salesforce was founded in 1999. It enables companies to take advantage of cloud computing, blockchain technologies, and artificial intelligence. In 2021, it reached the top 50+ on the Fortune 500 list. According to data from a new study from IDC, Salesforce and its ecosystem of partners will create 9.3 million new jobs and $1.6 trillion in new business revenues worldwide by 2026.

Salesforce announced that it has reached its net-zero targets across its entire value chain and uses 100% renewable energy for its global operations — a goal achieved by buying credits equal to the electricity it consumes. Its sustainability report says its tools are helping businesses of all sizes reduce their CO2 emissions. It says it prevents 100 gigatons of carbon by conserving, restoring, and growing 1 trillion trees and protecting the oceans.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced,” says Salesforce’s Vice president of Sustainability Patrick Flynn, as reported by Business Travel News Europe. He adds that the company delivers its products and services each day with zero emissions, pointing out that it runs its entire operations using green energy — or by using carbon offsets. Since 2019, the company has also focused on business travel and commuting emissions using a technology that tracks and analyzes such data. 

It does so by placing a price on its carbon emissions — something that is purely internal and that provides a financial incentive to cut its CO2 levels. To that end, Salesforce has set a goal of reducing its travel emissions by 50%, using 2019 as the benchmark year. It notes that business travel is integral to the company’s growth. However, it will replace air travel with rail travel. A 2019 study shows that travel by rail is 50% cleaner than travel by air. In some cases, it is 85%-95% cleaner. 

What are Salesforce’s sustainability goals? 

In 2017, it says it reached its net-zero goals. In 2019, it included all emissions from business travel and employee commuting. It then added the whole value chain. Using carbon offsets, it has reached 100% renewable energy for its operations. 

The goal now is 50% emissions reduction by 2030 and 90% by 2040, from a 2018 baseline. It will do that by buying carbon credits to preserve the rainforest and purchasing renewable energy from producers. It will also allow its workers to telecommute. 

Specifically, Salesforce follows six tenets as it helps other businesses get to net-zero: emissions reductions, carbon removal, planting and preserving trees, education and mobilization, innovation, and regulation and policy. 

“Core to Salesforce’s climate action journey is the continued reduction of our absolute emissions in a way that achieves a just and equitable transition to net-zero, in line with a 1.5°C future,” says the company’s sustainability statement. As a cloud pioneer and sustainability leader, Salesforce has been committed to accelerating the transition to clean and renewable sources of electricity since 2013. 

“Our work won’t stop now that we have reached 100% renewable energy. The ultimate goal is something bigger and more complex because matching our fossil fuel use alone won’t be enough. This is why, through behavior change and policy advocacy, we continue to work toward a future where clean and renewable energy is powering our operations and the world around the clock,” it adds.

To reduce its carbon footprint, it used the “net-zero cloud.” It is available to all in the Salesforce ecosystem and enables companies to track their emissions and reductions using “investor-grade data.” It says that this data quality is essential for third-party audits, financial filings, corporate reputation, and building trust with all stakeholders.

Since 2015, it has sought to decarbonize its real estate. But it is a goal that it learned was realistic in 2019 and 2020 during Covid. It focuses on its buildings, spaces, materials, and services that support those operations. To that, its cloud-based infrastructure is a catalyst for getting there. Indeed, it has started targeting a 10% annual carbon-intensity reduction. 

Another lesson it says that it learned from covid is that it can still be productive while traveling less — or by flying less and using rail transportation. It expects this strategy to result in at least a 50% reduction in business travel emissions intensity — defined as emissions divided by revenue relative to the fiscal year 2020. It says it is also building markets and advocating favorable public policies for sustainable aviation fuels, electric ground transportation, and travel booking technologies. 

What about your supply chain? How do you figure in carbon offsets?

Salesforce committed in 2020 that its suppliers — scope 3 — would be critical to its overall climate pursuit. It invests in its supply chain and encourages those companies to set science-based climate targets. 

Salesforce’s cloud-based technologies enable companies to track their carbon emissions and reduction strategies. 

Salesforce is clear that it uses carbon credits to achieve its goals. It purchases renewable energy and carbon credits to ensure rainforest nations keep their trees; trees soak up CO2 from the atmosphere. 

“The window of opportunity to achieve a 1.5°C world is closing fast. For the world to reach Net Zero emissions, we must rapidly deploy existing solutions today, while we also scale and innovate solutions for tomorrow such as carbon removals technologies. We must also prioritize emissions reductions today, which in turn limits the amount of removals we need later in the century,” it says. “We are deploying multiple types of capital including purchasing both avoidance/reduction and removal/sequestration carbon credits today, and over time we will transition to removals only.”

To that end, it supports financially the sequestration of 100 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere. It does this by protecting trees and the ocean, which is also one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet. 

Salesforce set a goal in 2020 to back and mobilize the conservation, restoration, and growth of 100 million trees by the end of 2030. The company invests in 20 projects and has funded more than 40 million trees. It says it is also creating a sustainable ocean strategy that protects and restores coastal ecosystems and those who depend on them. It uses its cloud technology to promote ocean health, collect ocean data and tackle plastic pollution. 

Tell us about your impact investments and policy initiatives? 

Salesforce says that it also helps to fund “ecopreneurs” — a term it invented that applies to helping commercialize promising new climate technologies. Too often, it says there is little support for climate investments in the early stages. 

“We’re excited about innovations like new carbon capture technology, tools to scale fossil-fuel-free energy, and new platforms to channel investments in climate-focused restoration projects,” the company says. 

Salesforce will invest $10 million in those “ecopreneurs” by 2025. It will use “impact funds” or venture capital funds.

Moreover, “We engaged country leaders around the world, including in the U.S., U.K., EU, and Japan, to support ambitious nationally determined contributions that deliver progress on the Paris Agreement,” says the sustainability statement. 

“We called for the U.S. to make critical climate investments like the Clean Electricity Payment Program that puts the U.S. on a path to reach 50-52% emission reduction by 2030.”

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