Etsy – Jacques Rebibo – 2025
Summary
Etsy started its sustainable compute workstream and set its engineering sustainability targets over five years ago, many of which expire in 2025. Since then, the company has undergone many changes, transitioned from co-located data centers to a cloud-first architecture, expanded business through subsidiaries, and begun adopting more advanced AI and machine learning capabilities. To ensure its technology growth remains aligned with its climate commitments, Etsy engaged EDF Climate Corps to evaluate the evolving cloud and AI landscape and draft an updated strategy that reflects both the company’s mission and its business priorities.
Goals
For a multi-cloud company pursuing technological growth and AI adoption, a sustainable compute strategy is essential to balance innovation with both environmental and financial responsibility. A central insight of our research is that financial efficiency and environmental sustainability are symbiotic rather than competing priorities. The same FinOps practices that improve cost efficiency, such as right-sizing workloads, deleting idle resources, and optimizing storage tiers, also reduce carbon emissions. By aligning these priorities, Etsy can create a strategy that supports innovation, lowers costs, and meaningfully advances its climate commitments.
Solutions
The project was executed in two phases. The first focused on research and analysis, using a four-part methodology to capture both external best practices and internal requirements. This included a peer benchmark of industry sustainability commitments, a supplier analysis of Etsy’s cloud and AI vendors, a landscape analysis of broader environmental impacts and emerging standards, and internal engagement with Etsy and subsidiary engineers to capture institutional knowledge and identify integration points for sustainability. The second phase centered on strategy development, synthesizing findings into a draft proposal with updated sustainability goals and recommendations for embedding environmental data into engineering workflows. The proposal was socialized with key stakeholders across Engineering and Sustainability to ensure feasibility and alignment, laying the groundwork for approval by executive and engineering leadership.
Potential Impact
The strategy proposal will be submitted to Etsy’s leadership in Q3 2025 for review, with hopes of public disclosure in FY25, and implementation beginning in 2026. The updated strategy positions Etsy to integrate cloud provider sustainability data into engineering decisions, take early action on AI’s growing environmental footprint, and extend sustainability practices across its subsidiaries. With this work, Etsy is better prepared to align its technology infrastructure with its climate goals and maintain its role as a leader in sustainable technology practices.
