Sustainability
This page is a portal to information about the environmental sustainability status and efforts of the Wikimedia Foundation, its projects, and the communities that participate in the projects. A February 2017 resolution by its Board of Trustees committed the Wikimedia Foundation to "reduce the impact of our activities on the environment". Both the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia community members are making active efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of this work.
Wikimedia Foundation board resolution on environmental impact
"The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to seeking ways to reduce the impact of our activities on the environment. We aim to always act responsibly and sustainably as possible, including favoring renewable energy for our operations. We believe that a long-term commitment to sustainability is an essential component of our work towards the Wikimedia mission and vision.
To this end, the Wikimedia Foundation makes the following commitments:
- We will seek to minimize our overall impact on the environment;
- We will consider sustainability as an important part of decisions around servers, operations, travel, offices, and other procurement;
- We will use green energy where it is available and financially prudent; and
- Starting in 2018, we will include an environmental impact statement in our annual plan."
– Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, February 24, 2017
Wikimedia Foundation 2019 sustainability mission statement
"The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to reducing the impact of our activities on the environment – our goal is to act responsibly and sustainably. We believe that a long-term commitment to the environment, and consideration of the effects of climate change, is an essential component of our work.
To this end, the Wikimedia Foundation will:
- Minimize our overall impact on the environment by seeking to reduce our global carbon footprint;
- Consider sustainability as a critical part of our decisions around how we plan our operations, travel, physical office use, and other procurements;
- Use green energy where it is available and financially feasible;
- Share sustainability information and lessons learned; and
- Perform and share an annual environmental impact assessment
We are creating a Sustainability Consortium that is comprised of a cross-functional team of Foundation staff and interested community members that are dedicated to helping to create, implement, and advise executive leadership on potential activities to reduce the Foundation’s global carbon impact. We are deeply passionate about environmental sustainability and reducing the effects of climate change to ensure that the sum of all human knowledge continues to be available, regardless of political and global realities."
– Janeen Uzzell, Chief Operating Officer, Wikimedia Foundation, December 13, 2019
Wikimedia Foundation 2019 sustainability framework
Wikimedia Foundation 2019 strategic sustainability roadmap
| Strategy | Deliverable |
|---|---|
| Minimize our carbon footprint | Calculate carbon footprint and publish impact statement |
| Identify carbon-reduction opportunities | |
| Integrate sustainability into planning process | Create and manage a robust sustainability strategy |
| Incorporate sustainability deliverables into budget/planning process |
| Strategy | Deliverable |
|---|---|
| Empower “green” choices | Develop guidelines for remote vs. in-person participation of events, including meeting options to accommodate virtual participation |
| Develop purchasing guidelines that are environmentally sustainable | |
| Encourage and enhance personal investment by suggesting “green” choices | |
| Leverage a remote workforce | Develop sustainable protocols for co-located Foundation events, including site selection criteria, lodging / accommodation practices, food / catering guidelines, etc. |
| Strategy | Deliverable |
|---|---|
| Enable global participation | Develop protocols for events to encourage and accommodate virtual participation |
| Develop, facilitate, and support Community efforts in the Sustainability space | |
| Share lessons learned | Create protocols for sharing lessons learned back with the Community |
Wikimedia Foundation sustainability metrics
We will assess the following metrics annually:
| 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| tCO₂e total for Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions | 2,697.55 (see note) | 2,430.69 |
| tCO₂e office related (facility/operation activities) | 1.70 per SF-based staff | 1.83 per SF-based staff |
| tCO₂e of travel for internal convenings | 3.21 per attendee | 1.65 per attendee |
| tCO₂e of travel for community convenings | n/a | 2.10 per attendee |
| tCO₂e of data center emissions / on all Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia | 4.89 kgCO2-eq per 1M pageviews | 2.33 kgCO2-eq per 1M pageviews |
| tCO₂e of data center electricity / on all Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia | 11.89 kWh per 1M pageviews | 10.78 kWh per 1M pageviews |
| % participants engaging virtually in large-scale conferences (100 or more attendees) | n/a | n/a |
- Note: the intensity metrics for 2018 were revised as we found inconsistencies with the data - this is reflected on page 18 of the 2019 Annual Carbon Footprint report.
We will also measure and assess project-specific metrics that are temporary in nature (projects that are a one-time event) – these will also be included within the annual impact statement.
Wikimedia Foundation sustainability timeline, reports, and more
Community-led efforts
- Wikimedia Sustainability Initiative (since July 2015)
- Wikimedians for Sustainable Development (since November 2019)
- Climate change portal, to coordinate efforts to improve content related to climate change and global warming on the Wikimedia projects
- A list of Wikimedia community events for Earth Day 2020 which takes place on April 22.