Meta quits RE100 clean energy pact as gas plant buildout for AI data centres grows
The Facebook parent withdrew from the decade-old corporate clean energy initiative after funding 10 natural gas plants to power its $200 billion AI data centre campus in Louisiana, the Climate Group confirmed.
A decade-old membership ends
Meta joined RE100 in 2016 under its former name Facebook, committing to source 100 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020. It now leaves after the UK nonprofit Climate Group, which runs the initiative, said the company can no longer meet the programme's technical criteria. The group confirmed the withdrawal followed "several in-depth discussions" and pointed directly to Meta's gas investments.
Meta has withdrawn from the RE100 initiative, as it is no longer able to meet the technical criteria due to investments made in new gas power.
Meta told TechCrunch the departure was a "mutual" decision and that it remains committed to "100% clean and renewable energy," relying on certificate purchases to offset its consumption.
Gas buildout to feed AI data centres
The centrepiece of the expansion is the Hyperion AI data centre campus in Louisiana, valued at more than $200 billion. Meta has committed to over seven gigawatts of new fossil fuel capacity for Hyperion alone, plus a 200-megawatt gas plant in Ohio. Across all projects, the company has lined up 10 natural gas plants since last year, enough to power the state of South Dakota according to TechCrunch's analysis.
- Meta joins RE100, commits to 100% renewable electricity by 2020.
- Meta states it has reached 100% renewable electricity matching via certificates.
- Meta announces funding for seven new natural gas plants.
- Meta withdraws from RE100 after its gas plant commitments reach 10.
The gap between certificates and physical power
For years Meta reported 100 percent renewable electricity matching through environmental attribute certificates, a method that lets companies buy credits from wind and solar farms to offset fossil fuel use on paper. As its gas commitments ballooned, that accounting became harder to sustain. Jonathan Bruegel, an energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, described the divergence bluntly.
A 100 percent renewable claim becomes harder to defend.
The Climate Group's RE100 criteria require members to source electricity from renewables, and the scale of Meta's gas buildout created what the group called a "structural incompatibility" with continued membership.
Tech peers take similar steps
Meta is not alone in turning to gas. Microsoft signed a 20-year deal with Chevron last month to power a Texas data centre with natural gas, and Google has struck similar partnerships. So far none of them have left RE100, which still counts 444 corporate members including Apple. The difference is scale: Meta's 10 plants represent a much larger fossil fuel footprint than what its peers have announced.
