China: Alibaba shares new green goals

Alibaba has announced that it has joined the Low Carbon Patent Pledge (LCPP), which is an international platform that encourages companies to share patents for low carbon technologies. In line with this pledge, the company will make nine key patents for green data center technology available for free. These nine patents include a unique "soaking server" cooling system, which creates energy savings of over 70%. Alongside this announcement, the company has also pledged to run all of its data centers on clean energy by 2030.

Speaking about the company's decision to join the pledge, Dr. Chen Long, Vice President of Alibaba Group and Chair of Alibaba's Sustainability Steering Committee, said that such technological innovation is required to transition to the "low-carbon circular economy of the future." He added: "We are excited to join the pledge as a way to encourage a collective approach to building a sustainable and inclusive future for society and the environment through open collaboration, joint innovations, and mutual inspiration." According to Alibaba Cloud, liquid cooling will become the new standard in China and beyond. 

Commenting more generally about the impact that such pledges have, Professor Jorge Contreras of the University of Utah, an academic expert on patent pledges, said: "The addition of these companies strengthens the Low Carbon Patent Pledge and reflects the reality that all sectors of industry can contribute to the effort to accelerate the transition to low carbon energy sources."