Chinese multinational technology conglomerate Tencent has been ranked first for powering its cloud service with a significant amount of renewable energy. Huawei and Baidu ranked second and third, respectively, said a report released on Wednesday.  

But Alibaba, top-ranked last year, slipped to the fourth position. Among data operators, Chindata ranked first for giving a massive push to green energy for its cloud operations. China Mobile ranked second and AtHub third, according to the second annual Clean Cloud ranking by Greenpeace. 

Internet data centers in the country guzzle a massive amount of energy. In 2018, they consumed an estimated 161 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to the power consumption of Malaysia. More than 73 percent of the electricity consumed by the sector came from coal-fired power plants, known for releasing climate-harming gases. 

"China's internet sector is powered primarily by coal, and the industry's energy consumption continues to rise. Over the past year, more Chinese companies have begun to procure renewable energy and to disclose greenhouse gas emissions data," said Ye Ruiqi, climate and energy campaigner, Greenpeace East Asia.

With China announcing to become carbon neutral by 2060 and peak its energy use by 2030, internet companies' reliance on fossil fuel has become a critical issue. Climate experts are urging those companies to increase the share of renewable energy in their operations.

"The pace of clean energy adoption is not nearly fast enough, especially when we consider that China's biggest tech company, Alibaba, and its biggest independent data center operator, GDS, have yet to issue renewable energy or carbon neutrality commitments," added Ye.

Only 13 of the 22 biggest tech companies in China have started to actively procure renewable energy, compared to just eight companies in 2019. But when it comes to accounting for renewable energy use,only two major technology companies have recorded renewable energy usage rates higher than three percent. 

While Chindata ensured 51 percent of renewable energy, Baidu used nine percent. Chindata is the only major data company that has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030.

 "Unlike Baidu and Tencent, Alibaba has not publicly disclosed its energy use or greenhouse gas emission data," said Greenpeace. Equally worrying is the public disclosure of energy use and greenhouse gas emission data by the country's technology giants.

"Tech giants like Alibaba and GDS have an opportunity to drive China's shift to a low-carbon economy, but currently they are falling behind their competitors," said Ye.

"Ultimately, we need all of China's major tech firms to achieve 100 percent renewable energy use and carbon neutrality across the value chain by 2030 – this would lend strong momentum to China's national climate commitments."

Graphics: Pan Zhaoyi

(Cover: Employees row a boat as they examine solar panel boards at a pond in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China. /Reuters)