The North American technological group Meta confirmed this Friday having withdrawn from a commitment to use exclusively electricity generated by renewable energy, in full expansion of the construction of data centers, highly energy consuming technology.
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25/07/2026
by
Lusa
A the company is no longer included in the RE100 initiative of Climate Group, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the UK and co-founded by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, which aims to encourage business climate action and has 444 members, including Apple, Google and Microsoft.
A spokesperson for Meta, who holds, among others, social networks Facebook and Instagram, confirmed the exit to the agency France-Press, stressing, however, the company's efforts to invest in renewable energy and the maintenance of the objective of using clean sources for all its needs.
The specialized portal Recharge News was the first to disclose the decision. According to files from Wayback Machine, Meta joined the initiative in 2016.
The withdrawal arises in a context of accelerated construction of data centers by large technological groups, essential infrastructure to train and operate artificial intelligence (AI), but of enormous energy consumption.
The sector has invested large sums to build these digital warehouses, equip them with high-cost chips and ensure electrical supply.
The Meta has concluded agreements with energy suppliers to put new natural gas plants into operation, notably to feed the Hyperion data center in Louisiana, in the southern United States.
The company claims on its website to cover since 2020 all electricity used through “clean and renewable energy”, thanks to investments in wind and solar. For the Climate Group, however, the company's current energy consumption structure compromises its presence in the RE100 initiative.
“ After several in-depth discussions between the Meta and the Climate Group, Meta withdrew from the RE100 initiative because it was no longer able to meet the technical criteria due to investments in new natural gas plants,” said an NGO representative, quoted by Recharge News.
The Meta is not the only technological giant to retreat. Microsoft signed a deal with Chevron last month to feed a data center in Texas with natural gas, and Alphabet (Google) also concluded a similar partnership.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that global demand for electricity would grow by 3.6% in 2026 and more 3.8% in 2027, with the large-scale development of data centers described as one of the main factors for this increase.
According to the agency's forecasts, renewable energy will become the world's leading source of electricity generation in 2026, surpassing coal after reaching a near parity situation last year.
In addition to energy, AI requires massive water consumption, mainly to cool data centers. A single medium scale AI conversion operation can consume a bottle of water of half a liter or more. The United Nations' global projections warn that AI-related water consumption could match the basic household needs of 1.3 billion people by 2030.