4 tech companies leading the way in sustainability
In June 2020, Amazon launched a $2 Billion fund to invest in sustainability. They even went as far as buying the rights to rename the Seattle NHL stadium the 'Climate Pledge Arena' to raise awareness of the issue.
We take a look at what other tech companies are doing to tackle this problem and reverse the effects of climate change.
Shopify - running a sustainable e-commerce platform
Who are they:
E-commerce platform for online stores
What's their footprint:
7,200 tonnes of CO2 (if you don't know what a tonne of CO2 looks like, check out our explainer here)
How are they reducing it?
In 2019, Shopify emitted 7,200 tonnes of CO2 based on their corporate travel and the energy they use in their buildings. They have chosen not to include additional supply chain emissions in this calculation, however, they do publish a detailed breakdown of their emissions which you can find here.
Shopify chose to offset the last 14 years of emissions (22,000 tonnes) making them a carbon neutral company since their inception in 2004. Going forward, they will offset all of their corporate travel and purchase renewable credits to cover their building emissions. Significantly, Shopify also switched their platform to run entirely on Google Cloud which is 100% covered by renewable energy.
Shopify has pledged $5m every year to combat the effects of climate change and boost their sustainability.
Basecamp - embedding sustainability into software design
Who are they:
Project management & team communication software
What's their footprint:
How are they reducing it?
Basecamp launched their pledge to become carbon neutral in June 2020. They provided a detailed breakdown of how they calculated their footprint here. It helps that they are a fully remote team and so their 'office' emissions are just over 5 tonnes!
Basecamp have pledged $100,000 each year to sponsor enough carbon offset projects to make them carbon neutral. However, they have also announced that they will focus on reducing their emissions through their choice of vendors, company events, and in software design.
Stripe - powering a sustainable payments system
Who are they:
Online payment processing for businesses
What's their footprint:
c.10,000 - 20,000 tonnes of CO2
How are they reducing it?
Stripe hasn't published it's exact figures for their emissions but they have committed to spending $1m every year on reducing their footprint. They won't just be investing in typical carbon offset solutions (like tree planting) and instead will invest in projects that capture directly out of the air. Their first investment is with Climeworks who use technology to literally remove carbon from the atmosphere. This method is 50x more expensive than traditional offsets so it's an excellent example of Stripe's commitment to reducing the effects of climate change.
Microsoft - 45 years of sustainability
Who are they:
Global software and hardware company
What's their footprint:
How are they reducing it?
Microsoft have committed to becoming completely carbon neutral by 2030. They also plan to purchase enough offsets to cover the last 45 years or since their inception in 1975. Microsoft have set up an internal carbon fee so as to make the companies operations accountable for their emissions and penalise departments that go over their carbon budget. They have also pledged to purchase carbon offsets to cover their emissions and now require their supply chain to work to reduce their emissions. With over 75% of a companies emissions coming from their supply chain this is a significant step.
Similar to other tech companies, Microsoft have announced a $1b fund to combat climate change.
Our easy to use tool allows your company to understand your company’s environmental impact and invest in projects that reduce it. With the Dodo dashboard you can track your emissions over time, and publish your company’s efforts to become a more mission driven organisation.
If you’re interested in getting started, get in touch with us at hello@dodo.eco!
