ByteDance, the owener of popular short-form video hosting service TikTok, has announced their commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. In a blog post on their website, the company said that they are mindful of their impact both on and offline, and: “A meaningful sustainability approach is good for business, our communities, and the world around us.”
As part of their commitment, ByteDance is aiming to reduce their operational emissions by at least 90 per cent by 2030. The remaining balance will be addressed through high quality carbon offsets, a goal which they say aligns with leading international science-based standards.
ByteDance have already begun transitioning to renewable energy across their portfolio of data centre assets, and also announced a commitment to source 100 per cent of renewable electricity for our global operations by 2030. This plan is well underway, and TikTok recently announced a new data centre in Norway that will run on 100 per cent local renewable energy.
Finally, ByteDance is aiming to decarbonise emissions across their value chain in line with scientific standards, with more information on the way in which they hope to achieve this promised before the end of 2023.
In addition to the work they are doing offline, ByteDance said that they recognise that many of our products and platforms serve as channels for users to create content, including sustainability-related content, and share it with their communities. In 2022, sustainability-related content and conversations gained billions of views across our platforms, including TikTok, Douyin, Toutiao, and Xigua. Therefore, the company said that they are taking important steps to keep this information both factual and accurate across their platforms.
