Salesforce

Current Sustainability Goals

Climate action plan (2021)

Ongoing efforts

• Annually reduce carbon-intensity from Infrastructure by 10%.
  

2025

• Measure, manage, and develop an action plan to reduce impacts and dependencies on nature across its value chain including data centers, offices, people, and products — in alignment with recommendations from the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
• Have suppliers representing 60% of applicable supply chain emissions set their own science-based targets.
• Increase representation of underrepresented minority (URM) leaders in the U.S. by 50% by the end of FY24.
• Increase U.S. representation of URM employees by 50% by the end of FY24.

2028

• Reach 40% women and non-binary employees globally by the end of FY27.

2030

• Reduce absolute (location-based) Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 50% (2019 baseline).
• Reduce business travel emissions intensity (emission/ $ revenue) by 50% (2020 baseline).
• Replace 5% of annual conventional jet fuel demand with low- or no-carbon-emission jet fuel (a First Movers Coalition commitment).
• Support and mobilize the conservation, restoration, and growth of 100 million trees.

2040

• Reduce absolute (location-based) Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 90+% (2019 baseline).

Past goals recently achieved

• Became a net zero company across its full value chain and achieved 100% renewable energy in 2021.
• Reached the goal of doubling U.S. representation of Black VP or above leaders in FY23, ahead of the end-of-FY24 target date.
• Achieved the goal of having 50% of U.S. employees made up of underrepresented groups, ahead the end-of-FY24 target date. These employees include women, people who identify as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Two or more races, or LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, and veterans.
  

Highlights

• Maintained net zero residual emissions and 100% renewable energy purchasing.
• Made a commitment to invest $100 million through the First Movers Coalition to scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions.
• Reached 45 million trees funded to be conserved, restored, and grown.
• Co-founded the Emissions First Partnership, which calls for the industry to move beyond megawatt-hour matching to quantifying the emissions impact of electricity consumption and generation – focusing on actions that maximize carbon reductions.
• Suppliers with science-based targets (SBTs) comprised 14% of applicable scope 3 emissions, and suppliers with commitments to set SBTs comprised an additional 31%.
• Announced the first-ever long-term purchase of Distributed Renewable Energy Certificates (D-RECs). The deal is expected to catalyze hundreds of small-scale projects in developing nations across the Global South.
• Conducted a pilot nature assessment aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) draft LEAP approach to identify and evaluate nature-related impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities across our direct operations and key parts of the value chain.

2024

Sustainable Value Creation: Closing the gap between stated commitments and operational realities (GlobeScan and Salesforce) — 93% of sustainability, finance, and technology leaders think sustainability is very or fairly important to the success of their organizations, according to this survey of 234 senior leaders. However, the report identifies four gaps (data, integration, capital, and implementation) limiting companies from making meaningful progress on corporate sustainability commitments (Feb 2024):

1. Only 27% report having access to high-quality sustainability data.
2. Only 37% perceive sustainability as very integrated across core business operations.
3. While about half of leadership teams are highly focused on sustainability, only about half of those are getting the level of capital necessary to mitigate the risks and impacts or seize opportunities.
4. Companies primarily see the value of sustainability for their reputation not implementation in their core operations, with 73% reporting high value for enhancing brand/reputation, while only 44% reporting high value for ensuring a stable supply chain and 42% for reducing costs.

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The World Economic Forum's Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) launched a “Corporate Philanthropy Challenge for People and Planet” to mobilize $1 billion of “catalytic capital” towards climate and nature interventions by 2030. Partners include CEF Members Google (Google.org), and Salesforce. GAEA also launched its Big Bets Accelerator, aiming to amplify public-private-philanthropic partnerships to accelerate corporate action along five thematic areas: nature, industry, energy, food and climate intersections. (Jan 2024)

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2023

Announced generative AI enhancements to its Net Zero Cloud platform to make ESG reporting easier for companies. This includes tools that will help: 1) generate sustainability reporting responses working from previous disclosures and uploaded information; 2) automate CSRD reports; and 3) assess the most material topics to their company. (Sept 2023)

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INFLUENCEMAP — Released its 2023 Global Leaders list identifying 27 companies globally that have achieved best practices in climate policy advocacy, including: engaging positively, and actively, aligning climate policy with science-based pathways to achieve Paris goals, and not demonstrating a “highly negative” indirect influence through industry associations. 16 of 27 are headquartered in Europe, six in Japan, and five in the U.S. CEF members in the list include Apple, Salesforce, Trane Technologies, and Unilever. (Sept 2023)

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Sustainable Aviation Challenge — This new initiative calls for solutions that decarbonize air travel, including sustainable aviation fuel and battery-powered flight as well as innovations in feedstocks, engineering, and physical and market infrastructure. The challenge is a collaboration between the First Movers Coalition and UpLink, with support from CEF member Salesforce and other companies. Proposals will be accepted until 2 October 2023and “Top Innovators” announced later in the year. (Aug 2023)

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More than a dozen companies submitted letters calling on California lawmakers to finalize first-in-the-nation legislation that would require companies to provide standardized and consistent climate-related disclosures. This includes two laws, requiring companies to 1) report greenhouse gas emissions across operations and supply and value chains, and 2) report on their climate-related financial risks. CEF members Microsoft and REI Co-Op were signatories of these letters. And CEF member Salesforce submitted its own letter in support of reporting emissions. (Aug 2023)

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ZEROgrid Initiative — Several companies, including CEF members General Motors, Meta, and Salesforce, are joining RMI to launch the Zero-Emissions | Reliability Optimized Grid Initiative (ZEROgrid), a comprehensive roadmap to accelerate the transition to a zero-emissions grid. ZEROgrid will start by building a holistic framework defining targeted metrics for engagement and impact informed by reliability and emission experts. It then aims to maximize grid reliability and emissions reductions through enabling sustained, high-impact corporate action across clean energy procurement, policy, investment, R&D, and operations. (July 2023)

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Joined the CEF member network in May 2023!

SALESFORCE — Announced a Nature Positive Strategy outlining specific actions the company will take to accelerate its existing commitment to a net zero, nature positive future rooted in people and climate justice. According to Salesforce, this makes it one of the first global companies to establish a comprehensive Nature Positive Strategy. The strategy is comprised of three mutually reinforcing areas of action: reducing impacts on nature; leading on nature restoration at scale; and accelerating customer success and the nature positive movement. Specifically this includes measuring, managing, and developing an action plan to reduce its impacts and dependencies on nature across its value chain including data centers, offices, people, and products by 2025, which will align with recommendations from the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), as well as making investments, forging partnerships, and supporting customers and local communities to accelerate nature restoration and the nature positive movement. (April 2023)

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2022

SALESFORCE — Launched three new environmental initiatives:

•  A high quality blue carbon framework to ensure carbon captured by coastal and marine ecosystem optimize outcomes for people, biodiversity, and the climate;
• ·A nature accelerator providing a cohort of nonprofits with flexible capital to pursue big climate ideas and solutions;
• ·And support for the Global EverGreening Alliance in a 5-year initiative to restore and grow 30 million trees across Zambia.

The company also recently unveiled its new Nature Policy Priorities to guide advocacy and policy engagement to protect ecosystems and build community resilience. (Nov 2022)

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SALESFORCE — Will launch The Net Zero Marketplace, a new platform for businesses to buy carbon credits from trusted partners with third-party verification. Salesforce expects this platform, which will launch in October, to make carbon credit purchases simpler and more transparent. Nearly 90 projects across 11 countries will be offered and credits will be rated by Calyx Global and Sylvera. (Sept 2022)

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The Planet Is Suffering: 82% of Global Workers Ready to Help, So What’s Stopping Them? (Salesforce) — More than 8 in 10 global workers want to help their company operate sustainably, and two-thirds want to integrate sustainability into their current role, finds a new survey of over 1,200 workers across 11 countries conducted by Salesforce. (Sept 2022)

• 3 in 5 employees doubt their companies will reach their sustainability goals in time.
• Workers also have little knowledge about these goals, with 53% unaware whether their company operates net zero.
• More workers desire better sustainability training, with 88% saying there’s too little investment in sustainability training, 67% saying they wish they had more sustainability-related qualifications 
• 94% saying training existing employees would help build trust in companies’ sustainability commitments.

SALESFORCE — Announced new Ocean-Climate Policy Priorities to guide its policy work in three areas deemed key to ocean protection: marine ecosystems & coastal communities, plastic pollution, and large-scale emissions reductions. Salesforce referenced the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, which describes how ocean-based solutions could provide as much as one-fifth of the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. (June 2022)

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First Movers Coalition — The flagship public-private partnership announced a major expansion to more than 50 corporate members—including CEF members Alphabet, Microsoft, Ecolab, Ford, and Schneider Electric—worth about $8.5 trillion and a total of nine governments comprising over 40% of the global economy. The coalition, which aims to create market demand for early-stage technology that cuts emissions from hard-to-abate industry sectors, also launched new sector initiatives in aluminum and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). In the Aluminum sector, Ball Corporation, Ford, Novelis, Trafigura, and Volvo Group committed to have near-zero emissions from 10% of their primary aluminum purchases by 2030. New CDR sector 2030 commitments include (May 2022): 

• Alphabet, Microsoft, and Salesforce collectively committed $500 million to CDR. 
• Boston Consulting Group (BCG) pledged to remove 100,000 metric tons of carbon.
• AES, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Swiss Re each committed to 50,000 metric tons of carbon removal, equivalent to a $25 million investment from each company.
• Members must demonstrate that the carbon can be stored for more than 1,000 years. 
• Breakthrough Catalyst, Carbon Direct, Frontier, and South Pole joined the coalition as implementation partners for the CDR initiative.

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SALESFORCE — Announced a goal to purchase 1 million tons of high-quality blue carbon credits (carbon captured by ocean and coastal ecosystems), equivalent to over $10 million, over the next four years “to help develop the emerging blue carbon market.” It also joined the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance  (ORRAA), a multi-stakeholder collaboration seeking to drive at least $500 million of investment into coastal projects by 2030. (April 2022)

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Salesforce / NGO initiative to grow blue carbon markets — Salesforce and several environmental NGOs–including World Economic Forum’s ORRAA, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy–launched an effort to develop global standards for high-quality blue carbon projects and credits (carbon captured by ocean and coastal ecosystems). A draft set of principles and definitions will be published for public comment in June. (April 2022)

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SALESFORCE — Announced that sustainability is now its fifth core value and it is tying executive pay to ESG performance, with measures this fiscal year focused on equality and sustainability. (Feb 2022)

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2021

2020

The World Economic Forum launched the U.S. chapter of 1t.org, a reforestation initiative aimed at uniting governments, NGOs, businesses, and civil society to grow and restore 1 trillion trees around the world. A group of 26 U.S.-based organizations — including Bank of America, Mastercard, Microsoft, and Salesforce — have pledged to conserve, restore, and grow more than 855 million trees as part of the initiative. (August 2020)

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