After purchasing carbon offsets to neutralize all of the emissions created by its rides, Lyft is officially a fully carbon neutral company. Announcing its new initiative at the beginning of this week’s 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, Lyft said it will also purchase renewable energy to cover all of its consumption through office space, driver hubs, and electric vehicles from its platform. The move makes Lyft one of the planet’s top 10 voluntary purchasers of carbon offsets.
These offset purchases come in addition to the Green Cities Initiative that Lyft announced earlier in the year. The business unit, aimed at tackling climate change and its side effects, started with a multi-million dollar carbon offset program. At first, the program covered all Lyft rides, but with this week’s announcement, it will now cover the company’s remaining emissions.
Lyft’s Green Cities Initiative also included partnerships with public transit agencies to make 50% of rides shared by 2020, as well as a bike and scooter share programs using the Lyft platform.
With these carbon offset purchases, Lyft has committed to purchasing its clean energy directly from local utility partners whenever possible. When that isn’t possible, Lyft said it will purchase renewable energy credits to ensure that all electricity it uses is renewable going forward.
