Information technology multinational IBM has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, and aims to procure 75% of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2025 and 90% by 2030.
The company aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 65% by 2025 against the baseline year of 2010, and says that the most important element in the fight against climate change is to reduce emissions.
IBM’s net zero goal also includes specific targets for residual emissions that are likely to remain after the company has first done all it can across its operations to reduce emissions, and it plans to use feasible technologies, such as carbon capture, in or by 2030, to remove emissions in an amount that equals or exceeds the level of IBM's residual emissions.
The company says it will prioritise reductions in its emissions, as well as increased energy efficiency efforts and increased clean-energy use across the more than 175 countries in which it operates.
“The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time. IBM’s net-zero pledge strengthens our long-standing climate leadership and positions us years ahead of the targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement,” says IBM chairperson and CEO Arvind Krishna.
"As part of IBM’s commitment to sustainability and its focus on the application of science and technology to solve major societal challenges, IBM Research has launched a Future of Climate initiative designed to accelerate the discovery of solutions to address the impacts of a changing climate."
Using a combination of artificial intelligence, hybrid cloud and quantum computing, IBM researchers are working with clients and partners to apply science to complex climate-related problems, such as the growing global carbon footprint of cloud workloads and data centres, methods to accurately model and assess the risk of changing environments and climate patterns, and the development of new polymers, membranes and materials that can capture and absorb carbon at the origin of emission, Krishna explains.