Atos today announces that it is raising its decarbonization ambition to reach “net zero” by 2028. With this ambition, Atos is committing to reducing the global carbon emissions under its control and influence by 50% by 20251 (scopes 1, 2, 32), and to offset all its residual emissions by 2028.
Atos’ new trajectory is 22 years ahead of the 2050 target set by the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2°C by 2050 above pre-industrial levels, and 7 years ahead of the target previously set by the Group.
With this ambition, Atos also commits to reach the SBTi target by 2025. The SBTi target on greenhouse gas emission reduction aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Atos’ target is 5 years ahead of both the most stringent SBTi pathway and of the target previously set by the Group.
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The decision to raise its ambition was motivated by the success of Atos’ decarbonization plans, which have already materialized into a reduction of the Group’s global carbon emissions by 15% in 20203 (from 3.3 to 2.8 M Tons CO2), of which an estimated 10% is structural improvement in addition to the conjunctural Covid-19 effect. It also reflects Atos’ commitment to further accelerate its customers’ digital decarbonization.
Atos is once again positioning itself among the most advanced technology companies worldwide in the fight against climate change and is helping to limit global warming to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels. As a reminder, Atos is ranked #1 in the digital sector worldwide by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
“It is time to accelerate the fight against climate change. By raising our own decarbonization ambition, we will better support our clients on their journey by tapping into the power of digital technologies and their identified potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 20 percent in other sectors. Our worldwide industry leadership in decarbonization will directly benefit all our customers”, said Elie Girard, Atos CEO.
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Atos has already strongly executed on its decarbonization plans over the last year, resulting from a strategy that encompasses all business activities and business units, and years of continuous investment in skills, competencies, and research. The Group’s decarbonization efforts are focused on four main areas:
1. Real estate: optimization of office space and energy consumption across all regions, with significant efforts to adopt decarbonized energy. This has materialized into a 34% decrease of global CO2 emissions of Atos offices in 2020 vs. 2019 (19% excluding the Covid-19 effect), with an accelerated switch to carbon-free and renewable energy, powering 44% of all Atos offices in 2020 (versus 25% in 2019);
2. Datacenters: improved energy efficiency materializing into a 15% decrease of global energy consumption of Atos datacenters in 2020 vs. 2019 and a switch to carbon-free and renewable energy, which now powers 55% of all Atos datacenters in 2020 (versus 32% in 2019);
3. Supply chain: introduction of systematic decarbonization criteria for the Atos supply chain, which has already led to significant gains (e.g. a 10% reduction in the energy consumption of all new PCs). Atos was listed among the top 7% of companies assessed for supplier engagement on climate change in the 2020 CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard;
4. Products & solutions: Atos continuously improves the energy efficiency of its products, illustrated by the release in 2020 of the #1 greenest machine among the top 100 largest supercomputers in the world, provided to the Jülich Supercomputing Centre in Germany.
To ensure that its commitment to decarbonization is reflected at all levels across the company and to raise employee awareness on digital sustainability, Atos introduced in 2020 an internal carbon pricing mechanism (80 € / ton CO2), which applies to all of Atos’ operations, as well as the “Atos Green” app, which provides Atos employees with resources to ensure the lowest possible environmental impact.
In parallel, Atos plans to establish a reinforced offsetting program, focusing mainly on carbon sequestration, for all its residual emissions.
For its customers, Atos is developing a distinctive decarbonization offering to support its clients in rapidly implementing comprehensive decarbonization strategies. Capitalizing on the acquisition of EcoAct in 2020 and the development of a dedicated portfolio, Atos now offers CO2 reduction commitments through DLAs (Decarbonization Level Agreements) in all large contracts. These commitments, which are measurable and auditable by third parties, bind Atos to indemnify clients if the year-over-year carbon reduction contractually agreed commitments are not met.
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