Taking steps toward sustainability this Earth Day

Earth Day is an important day of action in the world on the issue of climate change. At Twitter, we’re delighted to partner with the Earth Day Network, as well as share new commitments that our company is making to help address this pressing issue.

From the first Earth Day in 1970, the annual event has grown from 20 million to more than 1 billion people participating in activities around the globe. We’re helping to promote a variety of campaigns on Twitter focused on increasing environmental awareness and education, as well as working to mobilize citizens around the movement.

We’ve built and launched an emoji in celebration of #EarthDay that highlights key campaigns people are driving on Twitter including #ClimateAction, #EarthRise, and #VoteEarth. We’ve also donated pro bono advertising credits under our #AdsForGood program to help promote efforts leading up to Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary.

As part of our commitment to making San Francisco — where our company is headquartered — a greener place, we’ve partnered with the San Francisco Parks Alliance. Today, Tweeps are volunteering to clean up and restore the habitat at Cayuga Park. We’ll also be bringing Tweeps together for volunteer initiatives in our offices around the globe as part of the “Great Global Clean Up” in May and #FridayForGood.

Leading up to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020, Twitter is also making new commitments, including:

• Travel: We will begin to offset our carbon emissions for regular employee travel, as well as large-scale events like #OneTeam2020 and the #TweepTour. This program works by funding green energy projects around the world, managed through Cool Effect, a climate change nonprofit.
• Data Centers: Our data centers represent a significant piece of our carbon footprint. Our goal is to achieve 100% carbon-neutral power sourcing in our current data centers by the end of 2022. While we work to bring that online, we will also offset our current carbon emissions through Cool Effect.
• Plastic Use: We will minimize our use of plastic at Twitter events, as well as end the use of single-use bottles, utensils, and plates by 2020.
• Recycled Products: By year’s end, all Twitter offices will use 100% recycled paper products in the United States and globally by 2020.
• Composting: We will implement a new composting program in our US offices by the end of 2020, building on the leadership of the green initiatives already underway in many of our offices worldwide.
• Office Build-Outs: We will continue to work closely with our Real Estate and Workplace team to ensure that we’re retrofitting and installing environmentally-friendly water faucets and achieving at least 95% “Green Certified” status and 100% Carbon Neutral Energy in our directly-leased buildings by 2025. Our EMEA HQ in Dublin office is already powered entirely by renewable energy. To achieve this, building aspects including water consumption, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and material selection were designed and installed in line with LEED’s guidelines and metrics. The team received an award for its leadership in the city.

How can you participate?
Start by joining the conversation using the dedicated hashtags, following the accounts mentioned here, and thinking of ways you can reduce your own carbon footprint at home and at work.

We believe taking these steps are important but know we have more to do to. This is a global issue with global ramifications. We are committed to playing our part.