Dec 5, 2019 - Energy & Environment
BP to provide Amazon with renewable electricity for European data centers

- Ben Geman, author ofAxios Generate

Photo: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
BP announced Wednesday that it will start providing Amazon with renewable electricity to fuel European data centers that power the tech giant's cloud platform.
Why it matters: Data centers are very energy thirsty, and account for a great deal of the tech sector's carbon emissions.
- More broadly, Big Tech faces increasing pressure to act more aggressively on climate change.
- The move also signals how Big Oil is slowly diversifying, although fossil fuels remain their dominant products.
What's next: Starting in 2021, BP said it will provide Amazon with 122 megawatts of capacity from an onshore wind farm under development in Sweden, and 50 MW from a new solar project in Spain.
- They eventually plan on deals encompassing over 400 MW of renewable capacity.
Go deeper: The climate stakes of speedy delivery