Chinese tech giant Tencent announced on Thursday that it plans to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and supply chain by the end of the decade.
Tencent’s operations span from the messaging app WeChat to games and cloud-based services, which will all be powered by renewable energy by 2030. The company also stated that it sought to cut energy usage per unit of output and increase the use of green power in its operations.
According to an internal study, the tech company's overall greenhouse gas emissions last year were 5.111 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which includes 0.4% from direct emissions, 45.9% from power generation emissions, and 53.7% form supply chain emissions.
Tencent has committed to trade green electricity and raise renewable energy investments, as well as use carbon offsets in specific business divisions, while promoting a low-carbon attitude to its customers and enterprises. The company plans to purchase 504 million kWh of renewable energy in 2022, according to a green report.
“Tencent aspires to be carbon neutral,” said Xu Hao, vice president of Tencent's sustainable social value organization, who oversees the company's environmental projects, “we also expect to be able to assist the country's general transformation to become carbon neutral.”
Last year, China announced its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060, putting pressure on the country's largest corporations to develop their own net zero plans. However, China's large IT companies are still heavily reliant on the country's coal-dominated energy infrastructure, with only a few committing to switch to renewable energy sources.
Baidu and Alibaba are among corporations that have made net zero pledges. Baidu stated in June that it planned to be carbon neutral by 2030, but gave no specific targets, while Alibaba announced later in December that it aimed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations by the end of the decade while reducing supply chain and transportation emissions.
