3M Announces 100 Percent Renewable Electricity Goal, Starting with its HQ

St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M announces a goal of moving to 100 percent renewable electricity in all of its facilities around the world, starting immediately with its own headquarters.

“3M is flipping the switch to becoming powered 100 percent by renewable energy,” says CEO Mike Roman. “We are continuing to step up our leadership toward a more sustainable future-in our own operations, and in solutions for our customers.”

3M becomes the largest company in Xcel Energy Inc.’s service area across eight Western and Midwestern states to convert to 100 percent renewable electricity. 3M’s St. Paul global headquarters is a 409-acre campus with about 12,000 employees across 30 buildings and research labs.

The majority of the power for 3M’s headquarters will be supplied by Xcel wind farms located near Pipestone, Minnesota. Additional electricity will come through the wind projects that are part of Xcel’s Windsource program and solar sources.

3M’s transition to 100 percent renewable electricity at its headquarters will increase the company’s total global renewable electricity sourcing by more than 5 percent to approximately 30 percent and further help the company reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 3M says it has recorded a 68 percent absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2002, while nearly doubling its revenue.

“We applaud 3M’s leadership in making a bold commitment to 100 percent renewable energy. Xcel Energy is proud to partner with 3M, because we both share a drive to innovate and a commitment to reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment,” says Chris Clark, president of Xcel Energy for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

3M says its committing to 100 percent renewable electricity is part of its strategic focus on science for climate with the aspiration to innovate to decarbonize industry, accelerate global climate solutions and improve the company’s environmental footprint.

As part of the global goal, 3M is joining RE100, a global leadership initiative, led by The Climate Group in partnership with Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) that brings together influential businesses committed to sourcing 100 percent renewable power for their worldwide operations.

3M is committed to the move to sourcing 100 percent of electricity from renewable sources and has set an interim target to source at least 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2025.

“By joining RE100 and switching to 100 percent renewable electricity globally, 3M is building sustainability into its business growth strategy and showing the two go hand-in-hand,” says Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group. “Seeing such a large manufacturer commit to ‘go all in’ on renewables to produce sustainable new products is an encouraging step forward. Big brands like this can influence positive action from other companies and customers and accelerate the clean energy transition around the world.”

3M also recently announced an increased commitment to build sustainability into the pipeline that produces its thousands of products and technologies. At the UN Climate Conference (COP24) in December, 3M introduced its first formal requirement that a Sustainability Value Commitment be included in all new products introduced beginning in 2019.

At the same time as 3M converts its operations to wind and solar power, the company continues to support the global renewable energy sector by producing solutions for customers that improve the reliability and efficiency of renewable energy, including solar and wind. Last year alone 3M’s products helped customers avoid more than 13 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.