Top 10: Companies Pioneering Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is vital to the energy transition.
Not only does it streamline business operations, but it benefits customers, communities and the wider world.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says, to scale up energy efficiency investments by 2030, a comprehensive approach to energy efficiency action is needed — and is the most effective approach.
“While investment in energy efficiency has risen by 50% compared with 2019 levels, spending has not been evenly distributed around the world,” it says.
The agency is IEA to hold its major Global Conference on Energy Efficiency in Brussels in June 2025, bringing together ministers, business leaders and industry representatives to drive stronger action on energy efficiency.
“The current rate of progress in energy efficiency is disappointingly slow, given the critical role it can play in improving energy security, reducing energy costs and lowering emissions,” says Dr Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director.
“The 10th edition of the IEA’s Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, which we will co-host with the European Commission, will provide an opportunity for key stakeholders from across the globe to come together to assess what can be done to speed up improvements in energy efficiency.”
In light of this, here are 10 industry leaders who lead by example when it comes to energy efficiency.
10. Nvidia
Head of Sustainability: Josh Parker
HQ: California, USA
Revenue: US$60.9bn (FY24)
Nvidia is continuously improving the energy efficiency of its products.
Its GPUs combined with CPUs can be up to 20 times more energy efficient than traditional CPU-only systems for AI inference and training.
Between 2014 and 2024, Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU became 100,000 times more energy efficient for AI inference and 2,000 times more efficient for AI training.
Josh Parker, Head of Sustainability at Nvidia, explains that when using specialised hardware for AI, “the change in efficiency is really, really dramatic”.
“AI, I firmly believe, is going to be the best tool that we’ve ever seen to help us achieve more sustainability and more sustainable outcomes.”
9. Ørsted
CEO: Mads Nipper
HQ: Fredericia, Denmark
Revenue: US$11.4bn (2023)
Ørsted is investing in research and development to enhance energy efficiency and maximise the utilisation of renewable energy resources it creates.
This includes equipping offshore wind turbines with state-of-the-art technologies to maximise energy production whilst minimising environmental impact.
Ørsted is continuously working to improve the efficiency of its operations and reduce energy waste, maximising the value of its renewable energy projects.
The company says: “If we are to maintain an efficient energy infrastructure, long term stability of supply and affordable energy to fuel our manufacturing processes, businesses of all sizes have a crucial role to play.”
8. AWS
Director of Sustainability: Chris Walker
HQ: Washington, USA
Revenue: US$90.8bn (2023)
AWS uses advanced modelling to optimise its data centre designs for energy efficiency before construction.
Its designs are projected to provide 12% more compute power while improving energy efficiency and power usage effectiveness to 1.08.
It is also aiming to become more sustainable through improving the efficiency of its cooling systems to reduce water use.
“In just a few years, half of the world’s population is projected to live in water-stressed areas, so to ensure all people have access to water, we all need to innovate new ways to help conserve and reuse this precious resource,” said Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS.
7. SAP
Global Head of Sustainability: Matthias Medert
HQ: Waldorf, Germany
Revenue: US$32.5bn (2023)
SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises is a suite of solutions that includes tools for measuring and optimising energy use across business operations.
This solution is used by a wide range of customers including Unilever, Hitachi and Colgate.
SAP explains: “Companies that focus on sustainable business performance will gain competitive efficiencies, more easily comply with increasing regulation and ultimately be able to adapt and thrive through new business opportunities.”
Matthias says: “I aim to propel our sustainability agenda forward, creating value for our customers, employees and society by focusing on three top priorities: environmental stewardship, human rights and AI ethics.”
6. IBM
Chief Sustainability Officer: Christina Shim
HQ: New York, USA
Revenue: US$61.86bn (2023)
IBM is creating next-generation AI models — but instead of making them bigger, IBM is looking to scale it down.
Smaller AI models, like the company’s Granite series, consume less energy during training and inference. They also implement techniques like data pruning and iterative scaling to minimise computational resources and therefore energy consumption in AI development.
"IBM Research has also made groundbreaking advancements in chip assembly and co-packaged optics, which replace electrical interconnects on chips with optics," explains Christina Shim, Chief Sustainability Officer at IBM.
"Through co-packaged optics we’re poised to dramatically reduce energy costs, accelerate model training and enhance data centre efficiency — an enormous leap forward for sustainable AI."
5. Equinix
SVP Corporate Finance and Sustainability: Katrina Rymill
HQ: California, USA
Revenue: $8.15bn (year ending September 2024)
How does Equinix balance sustainability and efficiency?
The data centre giant says: “At Equinix, increasing renewable energy coverage is a key aspect of our sustainability strategy.
“One way we’re pursuing this goal is by entering power purchase agreements (PPAs) to support new renewable energy projects in locations throughout the world.
“We’ve emphasised PPAs specifically because they provide additionality — meaning that they add new renewable energy capacity to the grid.
“Instead of planting trees to grow more oranges, we’re helping ‘plant’ wind and solar developments to ‘grow’ more clean electrons on the grid.”
On top of this, Equinix is continually expanding its sustainability initiatives, namely through €1.2bn (US$1.2bn) in green bonds.
“We view green finance as an integral part of our sustainability strategy at Equinix,” Katrina Rymill, says.
“Our green bonds demonstrate Equinix’s continued commitment to design, build and deliver the most reliable, secure and sustainable data centre and digital infrastructure possible in order to benefit our customers, our investors and the communities in which we operate.”
4. Tesla
CEO: Elon Musk
HQ: Texas, USA
Revenue: US$97.15bn (year ending September 2024)
Tesla's vehicles allow for energy efficiency thanks to their advanced permanent magnet motors. The average Tesla electric car consumes around 34kWh of electricity per 100 miles.
Outside of its automotive ventures, Tesla enables energy efficiency for its customers through its Megapack series.
The utility-scale energy storage system can provide grid support, storing and discharging energy to balance the flow of renewables, support demand and invest in infrastructure.
Elon Musk says: “It is something we need to move towards,” discussing the long-term necessity of shifting to renewable energy sources.
“At Tesla, we don’t believe that caring about the environment means sacrificing quality.”
3. Apple
Vice President Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives: Lisa Jackson
HQ: California, USA
Revenue: US$391.035bn (year ending September 2024)
Apple has seen a 20% reduction in product transportation emissions compared to 2022, with its line up of carbon neutral products now including the Apple Watch Series 10 and Mac Mini.
On top of this, the company has seen a more than 55% reduction in CO₂e emissions across its entire carbon footprint since 2015. The tech giant has avoided 18.5m metric tons of CO₂e emissions through its Supplier Clean Energy Program in 2023 alone.
At the start of the decade, Apple set its net-zero emissions targets across operations, value chain and products, pledging to reduce emissions by 75% and develop carbon removal solutions for the remaining 25%.
“The innovations powering our environmental journey are not only good for the planet — they’ve helped us make our products more energy efficient and bring new sources of clean energy online around the world,” CEO Tim Cook says.
“Climate action can be the foundation for a new era of innovative potential, job creation and durable economic growth.
“With our commitment to carbon neutrality, we hope to be a ripple in the pond that creates a much larger change.”
2. Microsoft
Corporate Vice President Energy & Resources Industry: Darryl Willis
HQ: Washington, USA
Revenue: US$245.12bn (year ending June 2024)
As well as in its own operations, Microsoft is “committed to reducing the environmental impact caused by the energy use of our products, including battery chargers”.
When it comes to its data centres, Microsoft is dedicated to expanding its footprint and reducing its cloud’s environmental impact responsibly.
The company says: “Data centres use energy and water to power, heat and cool our cloud operations.
“We are investing in sustainability innovations and approaches that drive efficiencies and reductions in our energy and water consumption, through projects like free air cooling and rainwater harvesting, operating data centres at a higher mean temperature and more.
“We’re also looking ahead to future generations of data centres with innovations such as using hydrogen fuel cells to replace backup generators.”
Steve Solomon, Vice President of Data Centre Infrastructure Engineering at Microsoft, adds: “We have been working since the early 2000s to reduce water use and improved our WUE by 80% since our first generation of data centres.
“As water challenges grow more extreme, we know we have more work to do.”
1. Google
Senior Director of Clean Energy and Carbon Reduction: Michael Terrell
HQ: California, USA
Revenue: US$$339.859bn (Alphabet, year ending September 2024)
Google’s 2024 Environmental Report says that despite its total greenhouse gas emissions increasing by 13% year-on-year, the company maintained a 64% global average carbon-free energy rating across its data centres and offices.
As well as streamlining its energy usage, Google is working toward its data centres being entirely carbon free before the end of the decade.
Google’s challenge now is to make its AI more energy efficient.
Aside from this, Google ensures its waste heat and other energy byproducts are utilised — both for its benefit and that of the community.
For example, waste heat from Google’s Hamina data centre in Finland is being reused in the local heating network, providing carbon-free heating to 2,000 people.
Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt — who came in second on Sustainability Magazine’s Top 100 Women 2024 — says: “This project is a great example of how we’re constantly striving to find new ways to increase the sustainability of our operations.”
Explore the latest edition of Energy Digital Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Sustainability LIVE.
Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.
Energy Digital is a BizClik brand