VMware Sustainability News, Milestones, Partnerships and Net Zero Timeline

Enterprise and cloud software company VMware expects to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions 50 percent by 2030, and is pushing 75% of its suppliers (based on spend) to set their own science-based targets by 2025, the company has said.

Still, we'll be watching to see if or how those sustainability goals change once Broadcom completes the long-proposed VMware acquisition. Indeed, Broadcom expects to close the VMware acquisition by October 30, the buyer said in August 2023.

VMware's overall sustainability effort is led by Nicola Acutt (pictured, top of page), chief sustainability officer and VP of ESG. Moreover, the office of the CTO coordinates innovation and sustainability activities. In a blog about the sustainability journey, VMware CTO Kit Colbert said the company:

• Began the journey back in 1998 with its first virtualization solutions—reducing the infrastructure required to run workloads and cut data center emissions.
• Achieved carbon neutrality in 2018 and recently began engaging our partners and suppliers to follow suit.
• Committed to science-based targets and are working towards net-zero emissions by 2030.

VMware Sustainability Milestones: September 2023

In a blog, VMware described multiple sustainability milestones. They include:

• Achieving 100% renewably sourced power for operations of global facilities and co-located data centers (continuously since 2019) on our journey to net zero. 
• Adding more than 50 partners, including Google, AWS, Oracle, IBM, to the VMware Zero Carbon Committed program. 
• Helping telco service providers build a zero-carbon future. 
• Continuing progress on a project partnership with the City of Palo Alto, testing the potential of microgrids to advance energy resiliency and sustainability efforts at the community and corporate levels. 
• Releasing the VMware Green Score in Aria Operations to help customers identify progress and improvement recommendations in energy use and carbon footprints.  
• Baking ESG into organizations and the culture through VMware’s 2030 Agenda. 

Earlier VMware Sustainability Milestones

• August 2023: The VMware Explore 2023 conference (August 21-24, Las Vegas) will feature multiple sustainability sessions, according to a blog from the enterprise software provider.
• July 2023: VMware published its 2023 ESG report.
• April 2023: The company unveiled VMware Cross-Cloud managed services, a "set of prescriptive offers with enhanced partner and customer benefits that will enable highly skilled partners to expand their managed services practices." BT, for one, plans to offer the managed services to "help customers innovate, address data sovereignty requirements, and reduce operational costs while focusing on sustainability," according to Colin Bannon, CTO at Business, BT.
• February 2023: The company joined the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC). The group -- spanning nearly 40 IT companies -- is supported by the European Commission, the European Parliament and a number of corporate partners, with the aim of harnessing the emission-reducing potential of digital solutions, the EGDC said.

True believers in VMware's sustainability strategy include  Copaco, a distributor of cloud services to partners across Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Indeed, Copaco embraced the VMware Zero Carbon Committed Initiative. Pascal Saul, senior cloud architect at Copaco, explained the strategy to CIO.com.

Note: Blog originally published in August 2023. Updated regularly thereafter.