Dec 5, 2019 - Energy & Environment

BP to provide Amazon with renewable electricity for European data centers

Amazon logo at one of the company's centre in Bretigny-sur-Orge

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

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