The possibility to choose the type of electricity used was the aim of the contract that BPCE Achats - Groupe BPCE’s economic interest grouping determined to simplify and rationalize the organization of its procurement activities - signed with the utility company Engie for the purchase of electricity. The choice was between ‘traditional’ electricity (i.e. with no information provided about the source of production), electricity of guaranteed origin or electricity from a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). At the beginning of 2021, the share of green energy (electricity of guaranteed origin and PPA combined) in the preferences expressed by Groupe BPCE companies had risen to 71% of forecast consumption (compared with 60% at the end of 2020) and nineteen of the companies had opted for 100% green energy (versus twelve at the end of 2020). For example, Albiant-IT, the company responsible for managing Groupe BPCE’s four data centers, signed a PPA contract with Engie at the end of 2019, effective January 1, 2020, which enabled it to avoid releasing 1,342 metric tons of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere (i.e. 32% of the emissions currently calculated without including the PPA, which stood at 4,186 metric tons CO2 eq.). Albiant-IT’s CO2 emissions for 2020 therefore came to 2,845 metric tons CO2 eq.
