California: Zscaler announces carbon neutral status and aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2025

Zscaler has announced that it has achieved carbon neutral status, and said that it intends to reach net zero emissions by 2025. However, the company has not published a link to the emissions and carbon accounting data underlying this claim along with the announcement, and the data has not yet been made available on its website. 

Its carbon neutral status was reportedly achieved through a combination of renewable energy credits (RECs) and carbon offset purchases. This announcement follows Zscaler achieving 100% renewable energy across its offices and 150 plus data centers that run the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange - this status was secured through a combination of directly purchased renewable energy and renewable energy credits (RECs). 

Speaking about achieving its carbon neutral status, Jay Chaudhry, CEO, Chairman, and Founder of Zscaler, said: "As we continue focusing on supporting our customers, it is important that we make a positive impact on our planet. Zscaler partners with IT Leaders to modernize their operations through a Zero Trust security approach that eliminates the need for on-premises security appliances, resulting in decreased IT waste and reduced energy usage – all while working towards our common carbon reduction objectives." 

The company did, however, outline that it recognizes that it needs to do more on the sustainability front. In a statement, Zscaler said that carbon neutral is not "the end goal" and that further reductions and optimizations are vital to reaching net zero. It said that its cloud platform optimizations have led to a 12x increase in throughput per unit of compute, which it said has led to both operational and environmental benefits. It added: "To reach our goal to be net zero by 2025, we will continue to use data to evaluate our operations to track drivers for emissions. We also know that deeper engagement with suppliers is necessary. As we identified customer usage of our cloud as the largest source of emissions, continuing to seek and work with our data center providers on increasing efficiency and renewable energy usage is a priority. We will address the remaining balance of our greenhouse gas footprint from Scopes 1 and 3 by continuing to refine our procurement processes and policies as we forge the way to net zero by 2025."