Salesforce the Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM company, recently announced its first major renewable energy agreement. The company signed a 12-year wind energy agreement for 40 megawatts (MW) of a new West Virginia wind farm through a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA).
The electricity generated under the agreement is expected to be 125,000 megawatt hours annually, which is more than Salesforce’s data center electricity use in its full fiscal year 2015. The wind farm is expected to be operational by December 2016 and will deliver clean energy to the same regional electricity grid that currently powers the majority of Salesforce’s data center load.
This announcement comes on the heels of Salesforce’s recent commitments to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 and eventually power 100 percent of its global operations with renewable energy.
Comments on the News
“Today’s announcement is our biggest step yet toward achieving our commitment to be powered 100 percent by renewable energy,” said Mark Hawkins, CFO, Salesforce. “This new wind farm will bring clean energy to the same regional electricity grid that serves the majority of our data center load and support a global transition to a low-carbon economy.”
“Salesforce is one of the leaders of the corporate renewable energy movement and we are proud to see the company move into action with this wind energy agreement,” said Herve Touati, a managing director at nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute and head of the Business Renewables Center (BRC). “2015 has proven a record-setting year, with more than 3 gigawatts of wind and solar transactions signed by corporate buyers, compared to 1.2 gigawatts in 2014. Despite this incredible success, less than 20 corporations have been active in this space since its inception. This is just a start, and Salesforce should be recognized as one of the pioneers who made it happen.”
Sustainability at Salesforce
Salesforce leverages the power of its people and products to reduce the impact that the company and its customers have on the planet. From how it delivers its products to its focus on renewable energy, Salesforce incorporates sustainability into all aspects of its business. Salesforce’s multi-tenant cloud platform makes it possible to use a remarkably small number of servers as efficiently as possible. In fact, Salesforce’s core platform is 98% more carbon efficient on average than on-premises software. By moving to the cloud, Salesforce customers avoided emitting over one million tons of carbon in fiscal year 2015.
To support the de-carbonization of the global economy, Salesforce has pledged to:
Achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050
Eventually power 100 percent of global operations with renewable energy
Continue pursuing LEED certification for its largest office spaces and other innovative green building initiatives
Leverage its people, technology and resources to help environmental nonprofits around the world
