Twitter Is Already Eyeing the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020

Twitter rolled out a hashtag-triggered emoji for Earth Day and detailed ways it is contributing this year, as well as leading up to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020. Hashtags including #EarthDay, #ClimateAction, #EarthRise and #VoteEarth will spur the addition of the special emoji to tweets. Twitter is teaming up with the San Francisco Parks Alliance Monday to help clean up and restore the habitat at Cayuga Park in the city where it is headquartered. Similar initiatives are upcoming for May’s Great Global Clean Up and the company’s #FridayForGood program. In the run-up to next year’s Earth Day, Twitter donated pro bono advertising credits under its #AdsForGood program to help promote efforts related to Earth Day’s 50th anniversary. The company also pledged to offset carbon emissions for regular employee travel—as well as for large-scale events, such as #OneTeam2020 and the #TweepTour—by funding green energy projects worldwide, managed by climate change nonprofit Cool Effect. Recognizing that its data centers account for a significant piece of its carbon footprint, Twitter is setting out to achieve 100% carbon-neutral power sourcing in those facilities by the end of 2022, working with Cool Effect to offset carbon emissions in the meantime. The social network promised to minimize the use of plastic at its events, as well as to end the use of single-use bottles, utensils and plates by 2020. By the end of 2019, all Twitter offices in the U.S. will use 100% recycled paper products, to be extended worldwide next year. Finally, Twitter said it will continue to work closely with its real estate and workplace team to ensure that it is retrofitting and installing environmentally friendly water faucets and achieving at least 95% “Green Certified” status and 100% Carbon Neutral Energy in its directly leased buildings by 2025. The social network said its headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Dublin is already powered entirely by renewable energy, adding that it did so by designing and installing building aspects including water consumption, energy efficiency, indoor air quality and material selection in line with LEED’s (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines and metrics. Twitter vice president of public policy, government and philanthropy Colin Crowell said in a blog post, “We believe taking these steps are important, but we know we have more to do to. This is a global issue with global ramifications. We are committed to playing our part.”