Facebook has announced a new goal of becoming ‘water positive’ by 2030 – the tech giant is aiming to return more water to the environment than it consumes for its global operations.
The social media firm said that reaching its ambitious goal would require a combination of water restoration efforts starting in regions that are highly water stressed, as well as technologies to increase water efficiency at its facilities.
Facebook data center in Odense, Denmark
Over the last decade, Facebook said it had invested in new ways to make its data centers more water and energy efficient with a focus on sustainable solutions. As of 2020, the company’s entire global footprint of offices and data centers have been supported by 100% renewable energy and reached net zero emissions.
“We did this in large part by investing in the development of new clean energy generation in the places where we use the most electricity. In addition, our commitment to renewable energy has provided hundreds of billions of gallons of water savings since wind and solar energy use less water than fossil fuels,” the company said.
Facebook said it has already been taking a similar approach with water, investing in water restoration projects that will replenish more than 850 million gallons of water per year. In regions experiencing high levels of water stress, these projects have already restored about 595 million gallons of water in 2020.
Water restoration projects offer significant benefits both to local communities and their surrounding ecosystems, particularly in water stressed regions.
These efforts range from sustaining aquatic habitats by supplying fresh water to river systems during dry seasons and providing drinking water to Navajo Nation families, to modernizing agricultural irrigation infrastructure to reduce the amount of water being extracted from at-risk sources.
In Bernalillo County, New Mexico Facebook is providing funding to the Rio Grande Water Fund to restore the connection between the stressed Cedro Creek and its historic floodplain. The work increases climate resiliency in the region by mitigating drought and increasing biodiversity, restoring almost 20 million gallons of water per year.
For current water restoration work under way in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Utah, Oregon and California, Facebook has partnered with trusted, local environmental non-profits and utility providers to identify projects that would have the greatest impact.
In the coming years the tech firm is planning to expand this work internationally, including in Ireland, Singapore, India, UK, and Mexico.
Facebook data centers 80% more water efficient than average data center
Beyond restoring water to local watersheds, Facebook said it will continue to find ways to reduce water usage across its operations and work to develop new technologies and operational efficiencies to make data centers even more water efficient.
Over the last decade, these technologies, including allowing data centers to be cooled with outside air, have enabled the data centers to operate 80% more water efficiently on average “compared to the industry standard.”
Water use is significant for many technology companies, primarily due to its role in cooling datacentres – for example, Facebook’s datacentre in Albuquerque in America has access to more than half a billion litres of water rights on an annual basis.
The company said it sees opportunities for additional gains in the coming years, particularly as its infrastructure grows and would also need to develop water-efficient designs for different climates.
Facebook commented:
“Becoming water positive by 2030 is a long-term goal, but like our goal to make our entire value chain net zero in 2030, it’s one we’re confident we can achieve based on the enormous advances made over the last decade. We believe commitments like these can make a meaningful contribution to the global race to build a more sustainable future.”