Google is buying a stake in a Taiwanese solar company owned by BlackRock

Investors are pushing companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their operations and value chains, and Big Tech companies are among the most ambitious in their goals.

Google is committed to continuously using carbon-free energy wherever it operates. However, the sector’s increased demand for data processing capacity for artificial intelligence has resulted in an increase in emissions.

Taiwan, the main location of Google’s cloud technology, with the company’s data center and offices, still relies on fossil fuels to generate almost 85% of its energy, Amanda Peterson Corio, global director of data center energy at Google, told Reuters.

“The purpose of this investment is really to support the construction of large-scale solar infrastructure in Taiwan,” Corio added.

Regions such as Asia-Pacific are more difficult to decarbonize due to less developed infrastructure and restrictions that make it difficult for corporate users to purchase green energy.

New Green Power, owned by a fund managed by BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure division, was one of the leading solar developers and operators in Taiwan, David Giordano, BlackRock’s global head of climate infrastructure, told Reuters.

Both Google and BlackRock declined to specify the size of their equity stake in NGP, but Corio said the investment is intended to provide equity and debt financing to expand its 1 gigawatt (GW) capacity.

Taiwan aims to use 20 GW of solar capacity by 2025, and even 80 GW by 2050, BlackRock reported.

In addition to using some of the purchased solar energy to power its own operations, Corio said Google will also be able to offer it to its suppliers and manufacturers in the region.

Sharing information with suppliers would help Google reduce its so-called Scope 3 emissions, or those associated with its value chain, she added.

(Editing by Alexander Smith)

Disclaimer: This report is automatically generated by the Reuters news service. ThePrint assumes no responsibility for its content.