American manufacturing giant 3M announced last week that it was committing to move to 100% renewable electricity across all its global facilities by 2050 and has started the process by switching its company headquarters St. Paul, Minnesota, to 100% renewable electricity last Friday and kickstarting the company’s efforts by bringing its total renewable electricity consumption to 30%.
3M, a global manufacturing and technology giant, announced last week that it was setting a target of becoming 100% powered by renewable electricity by 2050, with an interim goal of sourcing at least 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2025.
“3M is flipping the switch to becoming powered 100% by renewable energy,” said 3M CEO Mike Roman on Thursday. “We are continuing to step up our leadership toward a more sustainable future – in our own operations, and in solutions for our customers.” Thus, in addition to committing to secure 100% of the company’s electricity needs for all its facilities around the world from renewable energy sources, 3M also flicked the switch Friday — in cooperation with US gas and electricity utility Xcel Energy — on powering its St. Paul, Minnesota headquarters with 100% renewable electricity, the majority of which will be supplied by Xcel Energy’s wind farms located near Pipestone, Minnesota.
The move also serves to make 3M the largest company in Xcel Energy’s service area across eight Western and Midwestern states to convert to 100% renewable electricity — boasting as it does a 409-acre campus with approximately 12,000 employees spread over 30 buildings and research labs.
“We applaud 3M’s leadership in making a bold commitment to 100% renewable energy,’’ said Chris Clark, president, Xcel Energy-Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. “Xcel Energy is proud to partner with 3M, because we both share a drive to innovate and a commitment to reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.”
3M now boasts approximately 30% of its global electricity as being sourced from renewable energy sources, thanks to a 5% bump provided by the update to the company’s headquarters.
As part of the company’s commitment to 100% renewable power, 3M also announced last Thursday that it was joining the RE100 global leadership initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project).
“By joining RE100 and switching to 100% renewable electricity globally, 3M is building sustainability into its business growth strategy and showing the two go hand-in-hand,” said Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group. “Seeing such a large manufacturer commit to ‘go all in’ on renewables to produce sustainable new products is an encouraging step forward. Big brands like this can influence positive action from other companies and customers and accelerate the clean energy transition around the world.”
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