NBN Co commits to source 100 per cent renewables by 2026

Australia’s National Broadband Network has committed to source 100 per cent renewable electricity for its operations by the end of 2025, while also setting a target to slash its annual energy use.

NBN Co said on Monday that it had entered into an 80GWh a year renewable energy power purchase agreement that would deliver just under 20 per cent of the organisation’s power needs in the 2023 financial year.

The company, which has also signed up to the global RE100 initiative, says it now plans to source a further 80 per cent of renewable energy through further power purchase agreements and contracts for renewables, taking it to near 100% by December 2025.

NBN Co joins 110 other major companies in Australia, including big four bank ANZ, retail giant Woolworths and property developer Mirvac, that have joined RE100 and made the commitment to switch to 100 per cent renewable electricity.

Crucially, NBN Co has also committed to delivering and maintaining a more energy-efficient network, with over 8.3 million premises around Australia currently connected, as data demand and the number of connected premises continues to grow. It plans to cut electricity consumption by 25GWh by 2025.

The new commitments from NBN Co build are part of the company’s second Sustainability report, and build on the release of a first Sustainability Report in the 2020 financial year, that established a program to deliver a 15 per cent reduction in emissions forecast for the 2023 financial year.

“Beyond the direct impact of becoming an environmentally sustainable business, what’s equally exciting is the power of the network to help enable digitisation, and the huge benefits that unlocks for the nation in terms of emissions reductions, as well as socio-economic benefits,” said NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue.

Jon Dee, the Australia Coordinator at RE100, said NBN Co was taking an important step towards the goal of exclusively buying clean, green, renewable energy – rather than opting to buy large-scale generation certificates, as some other major companies have done.

“But it’s not just the direct impact of NBN Co’s renewable electricity commitment that’s important,” Dee said.

“It also makes a positive impact on the over 8.3 million homes and businesses that use the nbnTM network.

“For small businesses, this may be one of their first suppliers to make such a commitment. It sets a positive example that other companies can follow.”