Pinterest is committed to doing their part to promote sustainable outcomes on our platform, within their operations and communities to help create a greener world. Pinterest is furthering those efforts by committing to purchase 100% renewable electricity for our offices around the world by 2023. This commitment builds upon our existing efforts to save energy in our offices, and reduce our global greenhouse gas emissions.
“We strive to create workspaces that nourish employees and are designed and operated in a responsible way,” said Mia Ketterling, Pinterest’s Global Sustainability Lead. “Powering our offices with 100% renewable electricity by 2023 is a step in our journey to build a better and more sustainable future for our employees and the global community.”
Achieving our goal
Starting with their headquarters in San Francisco, they’ll begin receiving 100% renewable electricity through CleanPowerSF’s SuperGreen program. Throughout our global real estate portfolio—from Chicago to Tokyo to São Paulo—we will purchase Energy Attribute Certificates following a set of guiding principles like prioritizing projects that are in the country within the same year the electricity was consumed, sourcing from projects that maximize system impact, and supporting local communities.
Green as we grow
Their emphasis on building a sustainable workplace extends beyond our existing locations, aspiring to be green as we grow. In our Pinterest Predicts 2022 report, they highlighted biophilic design—incorporating nature into their built environment—as a growing trend for the year. This design concept played an important role in the blueprint of their newly opened office in Toronto and our soon to open office in Mexico City, highlighting the intersection of sustainability, wellness and design.
Photo of the “Greenhouse space” in our newly opened office in Toronto inspired by the Allan Gardens in Toronto.
Clean energy also remains a key priority for Pinterest as they continue to grow. For all new locations, we will strive to source renewable energy locally whenever possible, and prioritize office spaces that are highly rated and industry certified by the likes of LEED, BREEAM, and Energy Star.
Building on what we’ve started
Their commitment to renewable electricity builds upon existing efforts to create a holistic, green workplace. Some of theirefforts include:
- Office waste reduction. They partner with local organizations to recycle excess office furniture and equipment. For example, Pinterest has been working with Revivin—a hardware lifecycle management platform—since 2017 to donate used laptops to communities in need. As they’ve reimagined their workspaces with PinFlex—their new employee work policy, they’ve donated used and excess office furniture in San Francisco to schools in the San Francisco Unified School District.
- Food waste reduction. They’re testing using AI in our San Francisco office to help track, project, and reduce waste in their kitchen. They also work with Copia to donate any surplus meals to the local community.
- Employee engagement. Employees have a range of green benefits available to them. Pinterest partnered with EnergySage —a comparison-shopping Marketplace—to offer all US employees incentives to install solar on their home or subscribe to local community solar farms. To encourage the use of public transportation when coming to our offices, they offer all employees a monthly commuter subsidy and to support our new work model, they are purchasing renewable energy credits to offset home electricity use for global employees.
- Employee resources. Pinterest provides information for employees on how to live and work more sustainability, such as a sustainable travel guide when going on business trips and tips to save energy at home.
Pinterest are dedicated to doing our part to promote sustainable outcomes on our platform, within our operations, and our communities. Our commitment to renewable electricity is only one of the first steps in our journey to inspire a better future and create a greener world.
