New report: Companies have big plans to make more products using renewables
We’ve seen the good news that Fortune 500 companies like General Motors, Facebook, The Home Depot, and now Apple are making smart investments to procure wind energy, realizing long-term price stability and cutting pollution at the same time.
But how many more companies are in line to invest?
A new report by WWF, Ceres, Calvert Research & Management and CDP shows how more and more Fortune 500 companies are setting renewable energy targets, increasing the number of corporate purchasers ready to procure stably priced and reliable wind energy.
In total the report reveals that 48 percent of all Fortune 500 companies now have targets in place for either renewable energy procurement, carbon pollution reductions, or energy efficiency– a steady increase over the 43 percent reported in 2014.
These goals save America’s companies billions of dollars. In 2016 alone, emissions-saving projects translated to a combined $3.7 billion in savings for these companies.
Looking closer, 53 Fortune 500 companies now have renewable energy procurement goals, with 23 of those companies setting 100 percent renewable energy targets.
Particularly remarkable is that the majority of those companies set 100 percent targets in just the past three years, reminding us that corporate demand for renewable energy is a growing trend – currently most prevalent in the Information Technology sector but expanding rapidly to other sectors such as Consumer Goods.
In fact, more than 6,700 megawatts (MW) of wind power had been procured through the end of 2016 by corporate and other non-utility purchasers through power purchase agreements (PPA), direct ownership, or green power purchase agreements.
To put it simply, companies know that wind energy is a smart investment, and they choose wind power more than any other source to meet their renewable energy needs. And with costs falling by two-thirds over the past seven years and more than 18,700 MW of wind power capacity coming online in the near term, wind power stands ready to meet growing corporate demand.
