Environmental sustainability at GitHub

[brutaldigital]

Hi GitHub Policy, I have a policy suggestion that I’d ❤️ your 👀 on!

• [x ] I have read the Contributing Guidelines
• [ x] I have reviewed your priorities and examples of past work at developer-policy/issue-areas

What are you asking us to do?

Power GitHub services with 100% renewable energy.

Why do you think this is important for developers?

In April 2021 your previous COO, Erica Brescia, announced GitHub’s commitment to building the environmentally sustainable home for all developers. This is a fantastic commitment overalll, but the use of renewable energy to power your servers is something that could be sped up. Please could you post an update on progress and think about how to pick up the pace?

Where is this? Which jurisdictions does this impact?

The planet!

Who else is involved? Are there other groups that we should consider partnering with?

The Green Web Foundation is an excellent resource and advocate in this area. GitHub servers are currently not meeting the threshold for their 'Green Web Check' : https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/green-web-check/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2F

[pcihon]

Hi @brutaldigital, thanks for opening this issue! I share your passion for this topic, and have shared your concerns internally.

GitHub has been operating at net-zero carbon since July 2019, and our goal is to be carbon negative by 2030. GitHub is on course to meet our power needs with 100% clean renewable energy by 2025.

I will look into submitting our information to the Green Web Foundation so that their Green Web Check reflects our progress, and update this issue. Thanks again for reaching out!