Tencent beats Alibaba in clean energy rankings among cloud providers in China

Tencent took the top spot among cloud providers in China for its use of renewable power, beating out Alibaba, according to Greenpeace East Asia’s latest clean energy scorecard.

Photo credit: Tencent

The report highlighted that Tencent ranked first due to its positive record on transparency, an increase in its renewable energy procurement, and its recent announcement that it would work toward reaching carbon neutrality.

Greenpeace urged all Chinese internet companies to set targets for 100% renewable energy use and achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. The non-governmental organization added that carbon offsets are not a substitute for the reduction of fossil fuel emissions, and that companies must scale up their procurement of wind and solar energy.

Greenpeace’s report stated that 13 of China’s 22 biggest tech companies have begun to actively procure renewable energy, compared to just eight companies in 2019. It also asked companies to disclose data on their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, Alibaba fell from first to fourth place in the scorecard’s cloud provider category due to “poor performance in clean energy use” and “lack of transparency.”

Clean energy ranking of cloud providers in China / Source: Greenpeace

“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 Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaigner Ye Ruiqi.

See also: These are the most active investors in China’s startups

The report also noted that data center operator GDS fell from second place to sixth in its category due to a lack of carbon neutrality commitments and poor transparency.