Alibaba Cloud Leads China’s Green Power Trading in 2021

According to BloombergNEF, Alibaba Cloud ranked first in China’s 2021 green electricity procurement list, achieving a transaction volume of 269 GWh.

The ranking is based on publicly disclosed direct green power purchase volumes, reflecting the most active buyers and sellers in the market.

Green electricity is defined as power generated with zero or near‑zero CO₂ emissions, primarily from clean sources such as solar, wind, and biomass, and its market differs from ordinary electricity by pricing the environmental value of the energy.

The emergence of green power trading is driven by a global low‑carbon transformation, with many enterprises in Europe and the United States adopting RE100, GPP and similar initiatives to procure carbon‑free electricity.

Key milestones include the launch of China’s green power trading pilot on 7 September 2021, and a government plan issued on 21 January 2022 that promotes green electricity consumption, noting that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics were powered 100 % by green electricity.

Alibaba’s 2021 carbon‑neutral action report reveals that its self‑built data centers purchased 1.3 billion kWh of clean energy (including wind, solar, and natural‑gas power), reducing CO₂ emissions by 906,000 tons, with 720 million kWh and 453,000 tons reduction in 2021 alone, leading the domestic internet industry.

Specific examples include the Zhangbei data center in Hebei, the first carbon‑inclusive pilot project, which used 30 million kWh of green power during Double‑11 and cut 26,000 tons of CO₂, and the HeYuan data center in Guangdong, which aims to achieve 100 % clean energy usage by 2022.

Alibaba Cloud continues to leverage AI, liquid‑cooling technology, and energy‑cognitive scheduling to accelerate green‑energy innovation, optimize energy consumption patterns, and increase the proportion of clean energy in its operations.