Climate Change News: Facebook Announces Plan To Be 'Water Positive' By 2030

In an effort to fight the effects of climate change, social media giant Facebook announced plans this week to become “water positive” by 2030. The company seeks to restore more water than it consumes globally.

“The climate crisis demands urgent action from all of us. At Facebook, we’ve invested in renewable energy and committed to reaching net-zero emissions across our value chain in 2030,” Facebook said Tuesday.

Facebook, reported that it used 3.8 million cubic meters of water a year in 2020. The water that Facebook consumes is from cooling the banks of computers that run its data centers.

The water restoration project will restore more than 850 million gallons of water per year, Facebook said.

The company also said it currently has water restoration processes that have restored water to rivers during the dry season. Facebook also said it has provided drinking water to Navajo Nation families, and has contributed funds to the Rio Grande Water Fund.

“We follow a water stewardship strategy that focuses on sourcing water responsibly, driving water efficiency across our facilities and operations, as well as investing in critical water restoration projects in the same watersheds where our facilities are located. Now we’re going even further and pledging to be water positive by 2030, meaning we will restore more water than we consume,” said Sylvia Lee, Facebook’s sustainability water lead.

New efforts by Facebook would focus on areas where local water is mostly used and in high-risk places with water supply shortages.

Multiple big companies are getting behind climate change efforts. Apple said Wednesday that it supports the current clean energy plan. Amazon, Pepsi and Snapchat have all announced a climate strategy.

Facebook also wants to expand water restoration globally in the U.K., India, Mexico, Singapore and Ireland.

“If you look at the biggest impact as a result of climate change — some of the really big ones like wildfires, droughts, floods — at the end of the day, it’s actually all tied to water,” Lee said.