Alibaba reports big drop in carbon emissions, more ‘clean’ electricity usage in data centres

The e-commerce giant cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2.32 million tonnes in the latest fiscal year, marking a 63.5 per cent improvement compared to the previous year, with more than half of the electricity consumption in its own data centres generated by renewable energy sources, according to its latest environmental, social and governance (ESG) report.

Hangzhou-based Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, reported total carbon emissions of 4.45 million tonnes from its own operations last year, showing a 5 per cent decrease year on year, according to the ESG report released on Monday.

Under Scope 3+, which refers to emissions generated among its “enabled and engaged” stakeholders across Alibaba’s ecosystem, the company reported a reduction in emissions of 33.34 million tonnes, equal to a 45.5 per cent increase year on year, according to the report.

Alibaba Cloud, China’s biggest public cloud service provider and No 3 in the world by revenue, reduced its carbon emissions by 9.88 million tonnes, a 44 per cent improvement over the previous year.

The report also revealed 56 per cent of clean electricity consumption in Alibaba Cloud’s self-built data centres, an increase of 2.1 percentage points from 53.9 per cent a year ago.