China's Alibaba pledges carbon neutrality by 2030

Alibaba has pledged to bring its own direct production of carbon dioxide, known as "scope 1" emissions, and indirect "scope 2" emissions from electricity or heating consumption to net zero by 2030. It also said it will reduce the carbon intensity from "scope 3" emissions produced in areas such as transport, purchased goods and services, and waste by 50% by 2030. The company has also pledged to reduce total CO2 across all its businesses by 1.5 billion tonnes by 2035. To achieve its goals, Alibaba plans to use new energy-saving, high-efficiency technologies, make greater use of renewable resources, as well as explore "carbon removal initiatives" that can remove climate-warming greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The company's CEO, Daniel Zhang, said the company is also trying to "stimulate actions and behavioral changes among consumers, merchants and partners in China and around the world." President Xi Jinping announced last year that China will aim to become carbon neutral by 2060, putting the country's giant companies under pressure to draw their own roadmaps to reach "net zero." But China's giant tech firms remain heavily dependent on the country's coal-heavy power system, and so far only a small fraction have committed to switching to renewable electricity sources. In a report released earlier this year, environmental group Greenpeace ranked Tencent Holdings as the top-performing Chinese cloud service provider in terms of sourcing renewable energy and reducing emissions. Huawei Technologies placed second, Baidu Inc. third and Alibaba fourth.