Renewable electricity consumption
IBM made its first purchase of renewable electricity in 2001 and we are now working toward the company's third-generation renewable electricity procurement goal which was established in 2021: to procure 75% of the electricity IBM consumes globally from renewable sources by 2025, and 90% by 2030. The amount includes renewable electricity in the grid mix IBM receives from utilities or energy retailers, and renewable electricity for which IBM specifically contracts over and above the renewables in the grid.
IBM increased its consumption of renewable electricity to approximately 1,322,000 MWh in 2023, representing 70.6% of our total electricity consumption, up from 65.9% in 2022. That includes 56.6% contracted directly from power suppliers or obtained via landlords, and 14.0% already in the electricity mix we received from the grid.
We remain on track to meet our current goal of procuring 75% of our worldwide electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2025, and 90% by 2030. Performance in 2023 was primarily driven by an increased use of renewables in our offices in India and in two IBM Cloud data centers in the United States.
Data center renewable electricity consumption
Overall, 74% of the electricity consumed in our data centers came from renewable sources in 2023, including both contracted and grid-supplied, compared to 66% in 2022. Globally, 28 data centers were supplied with 100% renewable electricity in 2023.
To learn more about the company's progress toward its renewable electricity goal and sources of renewable electricity, please see the latest IBM Impact Report.
Renewable electricity procurement strategy and reporting
Our reporting of renewable electricity consumption counts only what is generated in the grid regions where our consumption actually occurs. We do not rely upon the purchase of unbundled renewable energy certificates from other grid regions to comprise any “percent renewable” if we cannot credibly consume the electricity those certificates represent. Our definition of “grid region” aligns with how the U.S. Energy Information Administration1 defines power balancing authorities’ territories. We apply the same concept for other jurisdictions.
By aligning with this definition of grid region, we ensure that the renewable electricity we purchase can physically flow from point of generation to point of consumption when the time of its generation and our consumption coincides. This also creates incentives for our electricity suppliers to increase their renewable electricity offerings in the places where we actually have demand for such power.
We are source agnostic, meaning IBM includes renewable electricity generated from wind, hydropower, biomass, solar and geothermal sources in our reported renewable electricity consumption. We report all of our contracted renewable electricity purchases whether from new or existing generation sources, "additional" or otherwise, and without discriminating against large hydropower plants. All purchases signal to suppliers our desire for them to maintain and broaden their renewable electricity offerings. This approach also recognizes that all sources of renewable electricity contribute to decarbonizing our economy.
IBM methodology to calculate its consumption of renewable electricity
IBM differentiates between two categories of renewable electricity consumption:
- Contracted renewables: purchases of renewable electricity for which IBM enters into a direct contractual relationship with a utility, power supplier or landlord to specifically procure and consume renewable electricity.
- Grid-supplied renewables: quantity of renewables that is part of the mix of electricity our facilities automatically receive from the grid.
To quantify contracted renewable purchases, the company relies upon its contracts with its providers. Typically, IBM obtains bundled Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) in corresponding quantities that confirm this information. In geographies where RECs or GoOs are not available, the company obtains other equivalent documentation as alternative evidence to RECs or GoOs.
IBM estimates the grid-supplied renewables using publicly available power generation data by source from the International Energy Agency2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency3 (at grid sub-region level) and the Canada Energy Regulator4 (at provincial level). The company endeavors to obtain the most recent reliable data for any given reporting cycle. The following example illustrates how IBM calculates its total renewable electricity consumption from both categories:
Let's assume a hypothetical IBM site in 'grid region A' consumes 10,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity each year. That site signs a contract with its power supplier to purchase and consume 5,000 MWh of renewable electricity per year. Therefore, 50% of the site's electricity is being supplied by contracted renewable purchases. The rest of the site's consumption (the other 5,000 MWh) is being supplied by a mix of energy sources in 'grid region A'. According to the relevant authorities, the electricity produced in grid region A comes from the following sources, in percent of total power generation: coal (23%); natural gas (45%); nuclear power (10%); hydropower (3%); wind power (18%); and solar power (1%). That means, that in total, grid region A is composed of 22% renewables. This means that 22% of the site's remaining 5,000 MWh of electricity consumption – equal to 1,110 MWh – is coming from grid-supplied renewable electricity. The site's total consumption of renewable electricity that year was 5,000 MWh (contracted purchases), plus 1,110 MWh (grid-supplied), totaling 6,100 MWh or 61% of its total electricity consumption.
IBM does not arbitrarily assign the consumption of renewable electricity to certain types of operations to be able to show desirable metrics (e.g., assigning all of the company's renewables consumption to its data center operations). The company's approach is to assign renewables consumption proportionally to the operations consuming the electricity at a facility level.
1 U.S. Energy Information Administration
2 International Energy Agency
3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency eGrid Summary Tables 2018
4 Canada Energy Regulator