Greenpeace on Airtel
By Bala Shah

Greenpeace and Facebook today announced that they will collaborate on the promotion of renewable energy, encourage major utilities to develop renewable energy generation, and develop programmes that will enable Facebook users to save energy and engage their communities in clean energy decisions.

The news comes two years after Greenpeace launched its global Unfriend Coal Campaign, enlisting 700,000 online activists to call on Facebook to power its datacentres with clean energy instead of coal.  As a result of the announcement the campaign ends today.

“Greenpeace and Facebook will now work together to encourage major energy producers to move away from coal and instead invest in renewable energy. This move sets an example for the industry to follow”, said Tzeporah Berman, Co-director of Greenpeace’s International Climate and Energy Program. “This shift to clean, safe energy choices will help fight global warming and ensure a stronger economy and healthier communities”.

Facebook’s goal, announced today, is to power its operations, including its data centres, using clean and renewable energy.  The company will build on its leadership in energy efficiency through the Open Compute Project to encourage other IT companies to power its operations with clean, renewable energy.

"Facebook looks forward to a day when our primary energy sources are clean and renewable, and we are working with Greenpeace and others to help bring that day closer," said Marcy Scott Lynn of Facebook's sustainability program

As part of the agreement, the social media giant will continue pursuing on-going research into energy efficiency and the open sharing of that technology through the Open Compute Project which Greenpeace will work to support.   Facebook also plans to engage in dialogue with utility providers about the sources of energy that power their data centres.

“Facebook’s commitment to renewable energy raises the bar for other IT and cloud computing companies such as Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and Twitter,” said Abhishek Pratap, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India. ‘‘The Facebook campaign proved that people all over the world want their social networks powered by renewable energy, and not by coal.  Greenpeace will continue to measure, report and campaign on the sector’s progress to green the cloud”.

"International giants like Facebook are creating one bench mark after the other, it is now time for Indian giants like Airtel to show some leadership and commit to shift towards clean renewable energy to power their growth." says Abhishek Pratap, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India.

Greenpeace and Facebook have also agreed to develop and promote experiences on Facebook that help people and organizations connect with ways to save energy and engage their communities in clean energy issues.   Greenpeace makes extensive use of Facebook to engage its supporters in campaigns, and is the most 'liked' environmental non-profit organization on Facebook.