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Becoming a net zero company by 2030

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Key Takeaways

  • We are committing to a goal to operate as a Net Zero company by 2030
  • To achieve this goal, we are committing to a number of steps, including reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions associated with our global corporate operations, and investing in quality nature-based solutions to offset residual emissions

Key Takeaways

  • We are committing to a goal to operate as a Net Zero company by 2030
  • To achieve this goal, we are committing to a number of steps, including reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions associated with our global corporate operations, and investing in quality nature-based solutions to offset residual emissions

Home sharing through Airbnb supports sustainable travel: Airbnb Hosts use existing infrastructure — their homes — to welcome guests. Sustainability is also important to guests. More than 80 percent of US consumers believe Airbnb helps people travel in a more environmentally sustainable way1.

Today, we are committing to a goal to operate as a Net Zero company by 2030, reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions associated with our global corporate operations2 and investing in quality nature-based solutions to offset residual emissions. This commitment is the latest step we are taking to help address the climate crisis. In 2020 we made a commitment to achieve 100-percent renewable electricity use for our corporate operations, and earlier this year, we became a founding participant in the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition, a new public-private initiative that has mobilized $1 billion to fight tropical deforestation. 

“Addressing climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our generation,” said Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky. “Committing to Net Zero is the latest action we’re taking to lower carbon emissions and we will continue to work with our community to promote sustainable travel.” 

To achieve the goal of becoming a Net Zero company by 2030, we are committing to a number of steps, including:

  • Rapid decarbonization: We will develop reduction targets for all scopes of emissions, in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement.3 Our targets will include the following:
    • Operations: Power our corporate operations with renewable energy and undertake waste and water reduction measures.
    • Vendors: Partner with our corporate vendors to help them reduce their carbon footprints. 
    • Employees: Help our employees reduce the footprint associated with their commute (e.g., encouraging the use of public transportation), and help support adoption of renewable energy for their homes through partnerships offering community solar and green utility programs. We launched a renewable energy program for our employees based in the US this year and are exploring expanding this offering. 
  • Measurement and transparency: Annually, we will measure and publish our carbon and greenhouse gas footprint for our corporate operations, as well as report on progress towards our targets. 
  • Reinvestment in nature: We will invest in high-quality nature-based offsets that protect the natural world and the communities that rely on it, including as part of our participation in the LEAF Coalition. 

We are committed to doing more, and are regularly consulting with our global community of Hosts and guests, as well as environmental experts and community leaders from around the world. This includes working closely with our Host Advisory Board on how to embed sustainable practices in hosting and make them more widely available. We are piloting ways to enable our Hosts to switch to renewables, and we actively work with Hosts to educate them on actions they can take to become more sustainable. We are also working on quantifying the emissions from stays and Experiences to give us the data to guide the actions of our community. In partnership with our global community we are also developing additional strategies to further reduce the carbon footprint of stays and Experiences on our platform, and we look forward to sharing more details about these plans as they evolve. 

This critical work is being developed with input from sustainability leaders, including Elizabeth Sturcken, managing director of the net zero program at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), who is advising Airbnb on sustainability targets and strategy, as well as with other climate and sustainability experts.

“It’s encouraging to see an aggressive and science-based climate goal that aims for Net Zero in less than 10 years from an influential and global brand like Airbnb,” said Sturcken. “Although much hard work remains, the company’s size and scale offer transformational potential for reducing emissions at the speed and scale that the science demands.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws, including statements regarding Airbnb’s climate-related plans, Net Zero emissions commitments, energy efficiency strategies, and sustainability targets, goals, commitments, and programs. Forward-looking statements represent Airbnb’s current expectations regarding future events and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements. Among those risks and uncertainties are Airbnb’s ability to achieve the strategic targets, goals and commitments set forth in this release and unexpected delays, difficulties, and expenses in executing against such targets, goals and commitments, market conditions, risks that governmental or other third parties may subsequently define terms used in this release in a manner inconsistent with our usage of them, and risks relating to Airbnb’s business, including those described in periodic reports that Airbnb files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those discussed under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 26, 2021 and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. Any of these factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations we express or imply in this release. Airbnb cannot provide assurances that the results reflected or implied by any forward-looking statement will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that those results will have the forecasted or expected consequences and effects. The forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and Airbnb expressly disclaims any obligation to update the statements included in this release for subsequent developments, except as may be required by law.

1 Survey conducted for Airbnb by ClearPath Strategies, September 15-19, 2020, of 1,010 US adults, with a margin
of error of +/-3.1%.
2 Including Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions associated with our corporate operations (e.g., emissions associated with vendors, employee travel, and data center usage).
3 We plan to join the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and set reduction targets in accordance with the 1.5°C emissions scenario of the Paris Climate Agreement.

About Airbnb 

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions. Every day, Hosts offer unique stays and one-of-a-kind activities that make it possible for guests to experience the world in a more authentic, connected way. Providing hosted travel and the ability to live anywhere on a global scale, Airbnb has become a noun and a verb and most traffic to our platform remains organic. We will continue to invest in innovations that expand the travel market and lead the way in turning travel into a way of life.

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