Reducing our environmental impact
Human activities are changing the earth’s climate, disproportionately affecting historically marginalized and underserved communities, and impacting our health, wellbeing, livelihoods, and security.18
At Twilio, we believe business should leave society better than we found it, which requires us to be thoughtful stewards of our natural resources. We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our own operations and advancing climate action through our product, capital, and people in order to build a more sustainable future.
At the end of 2023, Twilio’s sustainability ambitions reached a major milestone: we received validation for our near-term science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).19 SBTi is a UN-backed global body that independently assesses companies’ targets and has validated that Twilio’s is aligned with 1.5°C trajectory across all three scopes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Our target focuses on reducing the emissions associated with our offices and data centers as well as per-employee business travel and commuting, and having the majority of our suppliers based on emissions set their own science-based targets (SBTs). Learn more about our target by clicking on the details to the right.
We prioritize transparent communication of our sustainability efforts to stakeholders through our Impact and DEI Report. Additionally, we engage with select ESG raters to benchmark our efforts against industry standards. When addressing customer sustainability inquiries, we share our progress privately through platforms like EcoVadis and respond to specific Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questions. Through these efforts, we uphold our commitment to transparency, accountability, and dialogue, ensuring stakeholders are informed partners in our sustainability journey.
Twilio commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 54.6% by 2032 from a 2019 base year. Twilio also commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions covering fuel- and energy-related activities and upstream leased assets 32.5% within the same timeframe.
2023 Progress:
We aim to address our scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as our scope 3 emissions covering fuel- and energy-related activities and upstream leased assets by increasing efficiency and shifting our electricity consumption to clean, renewable sources. Learn more about our sustainable workplaces and cloud and data center efforts.
Twilio commits to reduce scope 3 GHG emissions from business travel and employee commuting 61.1% per full-time employee by 2032 from a 2019 base year.
2023 Progress:
We aim to address our scope 3 GHG emissions from business travel and employee commuting by optimizing travel budgets, traveling efficiently, and continuing our remote-first work culture. Learn more about our sustainable travel and commuting efforts.
Twilio commits that 61.8% of its suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services and capital goods, will have science-based targets by 2027.
2023 Progress:
We aim to address supplier-based emissions by educating our suppliers on science-based targets (SBTs) and engaging with them as they embark on their own sustainability journeys. Learn more about our sustainable supply chain efforts.
While we believe everyone at Twilio has a role to play, a few key teams are responsible for our environmental management and performance, including Workplaces, Sourcing, Finance, and Twilio.org. Each team tackles the sustainability opportunities in their respective domains, and all work together collaboratively towards our sustainability goals. Representatives of these teams are members of our ESG Management Committee, which is sponsored by our Chief Social Impact Officer and whose strategies and programs are subject to the oversight of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of Twilio’s Board.
We actively assess, manage, and improve the environmental and energy performance of our workplaces through an environmental management framework and software solutions. We partner with Watershed, an emissions management and climate platform, to compile data for emissions tracking and management following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s guidelines.
We believe that education about and awareness of our environmental management and sustainability efforts are important to further our progress. We aim to educate Twilions, our suppliers, and our customers about our sustainability efforts and related performance through our Impact and DEI Report, meetings, surveys, and training.
While Twilio operates as a remote-first company, we maintain a select portfolio of workplaces worldwide. In these locations, our commitment extends to preserving and efficiently managing energy and emissions, optimizing water consumption, prioritizing sustainable sourcing, minimizing waste, and educating employees on sustainability efforts. Our San Francisco headquarters is LEED Gold certified and powered by 100% renewable energy.
We work closely with our data center and cloud computing partners to measure our emissions. We work to minimize data center energy use by utilizing containerization, server virtualization, selecting efficient equipment that meets environmental industry standards, and streamlining our code to reduce energy consumption. Additionally, some of our colocation and cloud computing partners have established 100% renewable energy goals. Together, these efforts help us provide a reliable experience for our customers, while reducing environmental impacts.
We address travel and commuting emissions by managing travel budgets, balancing in-person versus virtual meetings, and fostering awareness of sustainable travel practices among our employees. We advance sustainable air travel by offering employees insights into the estimated greenhouse gas emissions for each flight booked through our online system. Furthermore, our travel policy prioritizes economy class bookings for the majority of our flights, which generate lower greenhouse gas emissions than first or business class seats. As a remote-first company, Twilio enables individuals and teams (job-permitting) to work across the globe, significantly reducing the need for employee commuting compared to companies with in-office policies.
We strive to embed sustainability into our purchasing practices, from our events and IT equipment to vendors and professional services. We are building out our sustainable sourcing program to track our suppliers with SBTs and engage with our other suppliers to set their own emission reduction targets. Read more about sustainable sourcing in our Supplier Code of Conduct.
We dispose of hardware in partnership with global asset disposition providers that work to recycle wherever possible and properly decommission and dispose of hardware in compliance with local laws. In addition, our asset disposition processes ensure we remove all hazardous equipment and participate in hardware take-back schemes and donation programs whenever possible.
Effective corporate governance practices are important for business execution and ultimately benefit our shareholders. Our commitment to corporate governance is articulated in our most recent annual Proxy Statement available on our Investor Relations webpage, which provides detailed information on our board structure and composition, stockholder rights and engagement, executive compensation, and other key governance topics. Additional information can also be found on our Investor Relations webpage.
Twilio is committed to sound governance and oversight of our impact on our community and environment. For this reason, our Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee has direct oversight in its charter of our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities, programs, and disclosures. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is regularly informed of Twilio’s ESG progress and major updates.
Our Chief Social Impact Officer serves as our ESG Executive Sponsor. Her responsibilities include ESG strategy approval, implementation oversight, addressing ESG-related matters as they arise, and sponsorship of Twilio’s ESG Management Committee. This committee is led by the Director of Environmental Sustainability and ESG, and is responsible for establishing, implementing, and tracking Twilio’s ESG strategies and programs, subject to the oversight of our Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
For more information on our ESG documents and disclosures, visit our Investor Relations webpage.
In 2022 Twilio conducted our first materiality25 assessment with support from Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a nonprofit sustainable business network and consultancy. Through internal and external stakeholder engagement and in-depth research on the broader technology industry and sustainability landscape, we identified the environmental, social, and governance issues that are most important to our stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, and community partners, and to our long-term business success. This assessment enables us to prioritize our ESG efforts and establish goals that feed into our ESG strategy, while also complementing Twilio’s overarching company goals.
Important issues identified (in alphabetical order):
• Board & Executive Compensation, Independence, & Diversity
• Climate Impact, Resilience, & Disclosure
• Data Privacy and Security
• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
• Emerging Technology and Ethics
• Employee Health and Safety
• Ethical Business Practices
• Governance, Accountability, and Culture
• Products Address Environmental and Social Challenges
• Responsible Product Use
• Systemic Risks from Technology Disruptions
• Talent Attraction, Development, & Retention
• Tech for Good
We examine risks from a top-down and bottom-up approach and escalate risks to members of our management team and our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for risk oversight, and our board committees assist our Board of Directors in fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.
Potential ESG risks are intentionally integrated into our enterprise risk assessment processes, and the Enterprise Risk Management function is also included in our ESG materiality assessment and subsequent ESG Strategy. Types of ESG risks assessed include operational risks from potential climate-related physical impact events, and tightening of regulatory requirements regarding ESG and climate disclosures.
Our risk management structure is further described in our most recent annual Proxy Statement available on our Investor Relations webpage.
Our commitment to ethical business practices is captured in the Twilio Code of Conduct, which applies to all Twilio employees, consultants, contractors, suppliers, and board members. Upon joining Twilio, and annually thereafter, all employees are required to complete a series of compliance training courses covering the Code of Conduct, which address topics including ethical business conduct, data privacy, information security, anti-corruption, anti-harassment, reporting ethics and compliance concerns, and our anti-retaliation policy. The format of this training is an online course with industry-specific scenarios and interactive elements including knowledge-check questions. Through this training we capture written employee certification of compliance with the Code of Conduct.
On the supplier side, we maintain the Twilio Supplier Code of Conduct, which outlines Twilio’s ethics, compliance, and legal-related expectations for suppliers and any subcontractors, providers, or agents that they use. Our contract template and Online Purchase Order Terms & Conditions require suppliers to comply with our Supplier Code of Conduct. In addition, Twilio has adopted a third party risk management process which includes screening vendors, suppliers, carriers, and customers against sanctioned parties lists. This third party risk management program is designed to ensure compliance with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) legal requirements. Through these efforts, we are demonstrating our commitment to legal compliance as well as ethical business practices, transparency, and integrity.
To ensure protection of whistleblower’s employment status and protection from workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, Twilio has adopted the following policies:
Twilio is committed to doing our part to advance human rights and to identifying and mitigating risks that business operations could pose to such rights. Twilio’s Human Rights Statement outlines our approach to human rights issues including privacy, labor practices, anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, anti-retaliation, and diversity in the workplace.
Twilio has worked to encourage governments to support workforce education and training, marriage equality, broadband access, and voting access.
Twilio does not have a political action committee (PAC) and does not contribute to any individual political candidates. Total financial contributions to political parties, politicians, and PACs in 2020-2023: $0 USD.
Twilio and its lobbying consultants disclose our U.S. lobbying activities and associated costs, which can be found on the House of Representatives and Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act websites. For the EU, Twilio voluntarily reports lobbying contributions and activities to the Transparency Register.
The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a blueprint for businesses, governments, and civil society organizations to come together as global partners to address society’s most pressing issues. At Twilio, we are committed to helping advance this global mission to create an equitable and sustainable world.
We concentrate our efforts on the areas where we believe we can have the greatest impact. Specifically, we focus on advancing equitable long-term wellbeing, supporting people displaced by humanitarian crises, and enabling climate action. We believe our work contributes most to addressing the following 9 SDGs: No poverty; Zero hunger; Good health and well-being; Quality education; Gender equality; Reduced inequalities; Climate action; Peace, justice and strong institutions; and Partnerships for the goals.
While each Twilion plays an important role in helping to ensure the protection of personal data and compliance with data privacy laws, Twilio’s Privacy team manages our global privacy program, overseen by our Chief Privacy Officer with the support of an international team of privacy lawyers and compliance specialists. The foundation of the program is our Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) for when we act as a controller or a processor of data, which were approved by European Data Protection Regulators in 2018 and are applied globally to align our processes and practices to the highest standards. In 2022, Twilio became certified under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPRs) and Privacy Recognition for Processors (PRP) systems. These voluntary and enforceable privacy certifications demonstrate our commitment to privacy and facilitate international data transfers from APEC countries participating in these programs. In 2023, we converted our EU-US Privacy Shield Certification to the replacement EU-US Data Privacy Framework certification to enable transfers of personal data from the EU, UK, and Switzerland to our US operations. Our participation in these programs requires that we regularly audit or re-certify our compliance.
We have implemented policies and procedures that facilitate compliance with applicable privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and other US state privacy laws, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), UK GDPR, and others. We work to use privacy by design in the review and building processes for our products, services, and internal business operations. We publish privacy-specific guidance in Twilio’s public-facing help center to help our customers use our products in a way that will help them meet their compliance obligations and to demonstrate our commitment to privacy. To learn more about our commitment to protecting the privacy of our developer ecosystem, customers, and users, visit our Privacy webpage and Privacy Notice.
At Twilio, securing communications is a top priority and at the core of our platform. Twilio strives to maintain the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of data and services by proactively mitigating cybersecurity risks and helping customers meet regulatory demands. While each Twilion plays an important role in helping to ensure compliance with data security standards, there are a few key teams responsible for our data security. Our security program is overseen by our Chief Digital Officer and focuses on securing our people, our products, and our data to maintain security in every customer interaction. We follow a set of core security principles to guide our tested security posture. Our security risk management framework ensures ongoing risk identification, assessment, treatment, and reporting, while ensuring continuous delivery of platform products and services. All of our employees and contractors are required to complete security training every year, and we use physical and procedural safeguards to help keep our facilities and equipment secure. We assess and continuously monitor the security posture of our critical third party vendors. As part of our information security management system, Twilio is formally audited by third parties against frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, SOC, and PCI on a regular basis. To learn more about our security practices, principles, and certifications, visit our Trust Center.
Twilio takes measures to protect customers and their services through our high-availability platform architecture, resiliency practices, and requirements built into our development and operational processes. Twilio’s Business Continuity program establishes a framework to ensure continued delivery of our products and services by following an annual program cadence of core activities ranging from the business impact analysis (BIA), plan development and updates, and testing and exercises. Twilio performs an annual BIA to understand business requirements, set recovery objectives, and identify gaps and areas of vulnerability. Risks identified during the BIA will be included in the One Twilio Risk Management team’s risk assessment process. The requirements and objectives set during the BIA inform the strategy analysis. Recovery strategies are documented in the Business Continuity Plans (BCP) to specify how teams will respond and recover during a disruptive event. BCPs are tested via procedural walkthroughs, tabletop exercises, or simulations. Twilio’s Business Continuity program core activities are updated, reviewed, and approved by leadership annually, or as significant organizational changes occur. Additionally, Twilio leverages specialized tools to monitor server performance, data, and traffic load capacity and increase the capacity or shift traffic to relieve any suboptimal server performance or capacity overload. Twilio’s approach to resilience is aligned to ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System and the Business Continuity Institutes’ Good Practice Guidelines. Learn more about our Business Continuity program.
To protect users from bad actors, spam, and unwanted communications, we diligently protect the security, privacy, and availability of our platform with intelligent software and resilient infrastructure so our customers can deliver secure, engaging experiences on a global scale. We’re committed to building a trusted ecosystem across all telco stakeholders. To do our part to improve the industry and our customers’ experiences, Twilio has engaged in a number of industry-wide and product initiatives that enhance trust and deliverability of wanted messages. Twilio’s Acceptable Use Policy outlines the rules customers must abide by in order to use Twilio’s platform. Twilio’s Acceptable Use Policy is geared toward protecting not only Twilio’s platform, but also Twilio’s customers, recipients of communications, and the public at large. For example, Twilio prohibits any activity on its platform that is illegal, deceptive, or deemed to be hate speech. Twilio is also a trusted member of national and international committees that are shaping the future of telecommunications. Learn more about our commitment to trusted communications.
Twilio is dedicated to using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a manner that is ethical, legal, and responsible while also respecting human rights, intellectual property rights, and privacy rights. Learn more about Twilio’s approach to trusted AI here.
Twilio’s design systems team is committed to helping everyone at Twilio build inclusive and accessible software. Paste, Twilio’s design system, adheres to the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA). The system provides accessibility tips and an inclusive design guide to use while building new products. Paste aims to raise the floor for all Twilio products to start their product development lifecycle with accessibility as a baseline and is used across our entire product portfolio. To share our learnings, we have open-sourced the Paste design system so our customers can leverage business best practices when building their own customer engagement software.
This index maps our disclosures to the SASB standards for the Software & IT Services industry.
This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events and can be identified by words such as “may,” “can,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “could,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “forecasts,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this report include, but are not limited to, statements about: Twilio’s plans, expectations, timing, and ability to achieve its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, its science-based targets (SBTs), commitments and goals, its Sustainable Development Goals, and other goals discussed in this report; Twilio’s expectations regarding its ESG, DEI and SBT programs and initiatives; the future development of Twilio’s sustainable sourcing program; and plans, expectations and goals around the next decade of impact. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.
The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause Twilio’s actual results,
performance, or achievements to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things: changes in economic conditions; changes in industry standards, laws, and regulations; changes to the operations of the social impact organizations we partner with; and the impact of social and environmental factors beyond Twilio’s control, including social unrest, natural disasters, and similar events.
The forward-looking statements contained in this report are also subject to additional risks, uncertainties, and factors, including those more fully described in Twilio’s most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including its most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, and subsequent periodic and current reports and other filings that Twilio makes with the SEC from time to time.
Forward-looking statements represent management’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. Twilio undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this report to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this report or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
Footnotes
18 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/resources/press/
19 Twilio received SBTi validation at the end of 2023. SBTi published Twilio’s commitment on its website on January 4, 2024 (https://sciencebasedtargets.org/target-dashboard).
20 This includes both utility sourced renewable energy and renewable energy certificates.
21 This includes both utility sourced renewable energy and renewable energy certificates. We recognize, like many companies, that achieving the needed reductions in scope 3 are challenging, and we will continue to work to address this area of our footprint. This target covers scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel- and energy-related activities and upstream leased assets, which account for only 1.2% of our 2023 emissions.
22 37% includes some suppliers that have commitments to set science-based targets but have not yet set them. Excluding commitments, suppliers that have set science-based targets comprise 25% of our suppliers by emissions.
23 For more information on our carbon footprint, see our detailed environmental sustainability data. We measured our 2019-2023 carbon footprint in partnership with Watershed. Watershed methodology follows guidelines from the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard, inclusive of scope 1, 2, and all relevant scope 3 categories. Watershed’s methodology received third-party verification and uses the most recent and relevant emissions guidance. Watershed is a CDP gold accredited global software solutions provider. We received external auditing from Apex, who verified our 2022 and 2023 scope 1 and 2 emissions. Apex is a silver verification solutions provider accredited with CDP, and all of Apex’s lead auditors are either ISO 50001 or ISO 14001 Lead Auditor certified. Starting in the 2022 footprint, we incorporated region-specific power usage effectiveness values from one of our cloud computing partners into the cloud electricity emissions calculation, and we also collected access swipe data across key offices to estimate the percentage of employees commuting into the office. We now separately disclose optional scope 3.6 emissions from business travel accommodations
and optional scope 3.7 emissions from energy usage from employees working from home. We still share these categories for transparency, but they are not included in our science-based target per SBTi requirements. Scope 3.6 emissions from business travel include radiative forcing for flights. Optional scope 3.7 emissions from employees working from home are calculated using location-specific carbon intensity factors to account for differences in emission intensity of the energy sources where our employees are working from home. We acquired multiple companies between 2019 and 2022. GHG protocol requires that the emissions from each acquired company are included within our footprint prior to the acquisition close date as well as moving forward. Watershed estimated historical emissions for each acquisition using a proprietary machine learning algorithm, and the estimated historical emissions from applicable acquisitions are included in addition to our actual emissions for the applicable years. After the acquisition close date, these companies are folded into our systems, and their emissions appear in our carbon footprint using actual data. We have restated our 2019-2021 carbon footprints to better account for well-to-tank emissions in scopes 3.3, 3.6, and 3.8 as well as flight fare class for scope 3.6. Our 2023 market-based scope 2 emissions include Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). Our scope 3.6 business travel emissions increased between 2022 and 2023 in part due to increased UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) emission factors for 2023 that were primarily higher because of reduced flight load factors as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
24 Our 2023 market-based scope 2 percentage renewable electricity decreased relative to 2022 primarily due to an increase in grid-based electricity for our data centers. We aim to address our scope 2 emissions by increasing efficiency and shifting our electricity consumption to clean, renewable sources.
25 In this report and in related communications, the term “materiality” and similar terms, when used in the context of environmental, social and governance topics, are defined in reference to sustainability frameworks and are not meant to correspond to the concept of materiality under the U.S. securities laws and/or disclosures required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
