Sustainability: our practices and goals

How we’re reducing our carbon footprint—and how you can help too.

There’s no doubt that tech companies play a crucial role in tackling climate change. According to the latest studies, digital technologies account for 2-4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s almost double the airline industry’s numbers (ouch).

As a Climate Neutral Certified company, we’ve always been committed to doing our part. The certification recognizes our determination to achieve net-zero carbon emissions—whether it’s through reducing our own emissions or encouraging our supply chain to do the same. Our ultimate goal is simple: becoming a climate-positive company that actively removes carbon from the atmosphere.

Of course, there’s still a lot of hard work to put in. But since we’re talking about our planet’s future, that work is absolutely crucial. And because sustainability is a shared responsibility, we believe that all of us —partners, clients, users, and employees—have a key role to play.

There’s still a lot of hard work to put in. But since we’re talking about our planet’s future, that work is absolutely crucial.

— Lina Ruiz, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility

What we’re doing

Cutting our server emissions

Ever since 2020, one of our main emission hotspots has been our data servers. To start tackling that, we’ve been working closely with our cloud provider to optimize our server infrastructure and reduce emissions.

Giving our hubs —and equipment—the renewable treatment

We’re using renewable energy sources to power the WeTransfer HQ and hubs. On top of that, we’ve established a program that ensures our company laptops can find a (loving) second home by repairing, refurbishing, and reselling them.

Empowering our employees

To encourage our employees to get involved, our team of internal allies has been implementing new approaches when it comes to our products, offices, and practices. Some of these include a hybrid work schedule—which means less commuting—and encouraging train travel for business trips when distances are less than 500 km.

Supporting worthy initiatives

One such initiative is SeaTrees, which develops coastal restoration projects around the world to reverse climate change. We’re supporting them by planting hundreds of thousands of trees to support reforestation and the regeneration of marine ecosystems.

Always aiming higher

After years of laying the groundwork, 2022 saw us make some significant reductions to our carbon footprint, which puts us on track to reach our goal. Stay tuned for our latest target for 2025 and beyond.

Staying transparent

To manage an impact, you first need to understand it. We believe that transparency is vital when it comes to energy consumption—particularly in the tech industry. That’s why we try to share our progress through our annual sustainability reports, as well as by updating our users on any key news through our platforms.

How you can do your part

Understand the footprint of our digital ads

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a priority for our advertising clients too. That’s why we’re working with them to understand and address the footprint of our digital ads. As an example, we worked with DIMPACT to calculate the CO2 footprint of our wallpaper advertisements, a metric that is now included in all our campaign reports.

Spread the word through our platforms

Whether it’s on our website or through our editorial platform WePresent, we’re already inspiring millions of people to create a better society and planet. We’d like to continue collaborating with our partners, users, and creatives to truly make the climate challenges of today feel more tangible, relatable and (crucially) actionable.

Get inspired

We’re big fans of sharing the actions we’ve already taken so other fast-growing companies facing similar challenges can take in the learnings and follow in our footsteps.