Amazon AWS: AWS announces plans to switch to HVO fuel across Europe

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that it will be transitioning away from diesel to Hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) to power its backup generators in Sweden. Reports are that HVO has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 percent through the fuel life cycle when compared with its fossil fuel counterparts. The company has outlined that the changeover has already begun and aims to switch over to biodiesel across Europe; Sweden is one of the first to enact the change. 

"The transition to HVO is just one of many ways we are working to further improve the sustainability of our data centers. We are reducing the carbon footprint of our operations and working toward Amazon's company-wide goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2040," said Marielle Lindgren, head of AWS in the Nordics. 

"By making this commitment to using sustainably sourced HVO in the operation of our data centers, we and our partners hope to lead the way for other companies and help to establish a global supply chain that will accelerate changes throughout Europe," she added. 

Increasingly companies in the data center space are looking toward alternatives such HVO to power their back-up generators. Kao, for example, was the first in Europe to make the change across its entire portfolio.