SolarCity Releases its First Corporate Sustainability Report, Measuring its Impact on Environment, Job Creation, Economic Development, and Society

Now approaching its 10-year anniversary, SolarCity Corp. recently released its first Impact Report, a research report that reveals the impact of installing more than 8 million solar panels across America to more than 250,000 customers. The research report also shows evidence of SolarCity’s progress in a number of environmental and social categories, such as combating climate change, creating a safe workplace, and improving energy access for off-grid communities. To download the report, visit the SolarCity blog.

Research includes the following highlights:

SolarCity’s carbon footprint continues to be driven by the manufacture of solar panel systems. However, our carbon footprint per installation is decreasing. For each ton of carbon emitted in our 2015 carbon footprint, the clean energy systems that we have deployed avoided more than three tons. The solar power systems that we have deployed produce millions of kilowatt-hours of carbon-free electricity every day — an impact that far outstrips our annual carbon footprint.

Even accounting for the lifecycle carbon footprint of solar technology, the typical SolarCity system starts delivering net carbon reductions in less than one year.Our philanthropic foundation, GivePower, has installed off-grid solar systems for more than 1,500 schools in developing countries. We’ve begun to expand the scope of the program to deliver a range of essential community services to the developing world, including: education, water, health, food, security, economic development, telecommunications and conservation.