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Corporations interested in sustainability have become a major driver in the renewable energy industry, said experts at the North American Energy Markets Association meeting in Florida last month. "There is about 15 GW of latent demand for renewables that wants to be built by 2020 in order to meet the targets of Fortune 500 companies that have committed to some degree of renewable energy in their supply portfolios," said Invenergy Vice President of Sales and Marketing Craig Gordon. 3M, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are among the companies seeking power purchase agreements with renewables in the US.

IKEA wants to become a net exporter of renewables by 2020 and plans to spend another $670.5 million on renewable energy development. It currently sources 53% of its total electricity needs from renewables, controlling 314 turbines and 700,000 solar panels worldwide. The company will continue to embrace energy-efficiency measures, reduce supply chain emissions and make its products more sustainable.

The small country of Denmark is making a big commitment to renewables. Today Denmark's electric grid is over 40 percent renewably powered, and the country is aiming to reach 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035 and 100 percent renewable energy in all sectors by 2050. 

Renewables are expected to grow at a faster rate than previously thought and could account for 15% of global generation by 2035, according to BP. The report says wind, biofuels and other renewables are expected grow 6.6% annually. Renewables currently account for 3% of the world's energy mix, but that figure could climb to 9% within two decades. "The rate at which renewables gain share from 2020 to 2035 matches oil's gain over the 15 years of 1908-23," BP said.

The Rocky Mountain Institute's Business Renewables Center (BRC) is working together with RE100, led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, to accelerate the procurement of renewable energy by some of the world's most influential companies. The partnership aims to increase renewable demand (buyers), find renewable opportunities (developers and intermediaries), and provide the means to bridge the two through tools and knowledge.

The Climate Group-led RE100 program has partnered with Rocky Mountain Institute's Business Renewables Center to increase renewable demand, find renewable opportunities, and provide the means to bridge the two through tools and knowledge.

BSR, Rocky Mountain Institute, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund created the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, which combines the strengths of their respective programs to help corporations deploy an additional 60 GW of renewable energy capacity in the United States by 2025.

Developing nations invested $37.6 billion on renewable energy development in 2015, according to the World Bank. That renewables expenditure added up to 63% of all energy infrastructure spending in such countries last year, up from a five-year average of 44% and a 10-year average of 37%.

Corporations and governments intensified the renewable energy push last week. Six global companies joined RE100 with commitments to 100 percent renewable energy across their operations, coinciding with a government-led Corporate Sourcing of Renewables campaign that launched at the Seventh Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7) in San Francisco.

Rocky Mountain Institute launched the Business Renewables Center (BRC), a platform to advance corporate renewable energy procurement. The organization plans to use the platform to add 60 GW of solar and wind energy in the United States by 2025, which will nearly double current installed renewable energy capacity.

Google has purchased an additional 842 MW of renewable energy capacity for its global data center operations, bringing the company's total renewable energy portfolio to 2 GW worldwide. The announcement marks the largest purchase of renewable energy by a non-utility company to date.

Since Google declared its 100 percent commitment to renewables back in 2012, it has signed contracts that will help add almost 2.6 gigawatts of wind- and solar-generated electricity to the grid by the time all the projects are completely. While each of those installations has its own timetable for completion, at least 900 megawatts of those projects should come online within the next four to six weeks alone, according to one of Google's energy strategy executives. Over the course of next year, all the clean power that Google is adding to the grid will offset what it's using in aggregate. And moving forward, Google wants to ensure that more of the electricity it actually uses can be traced to renewable generating sources.

Apple seems to be embedding its renewable energy commitments into its corporate structure. The company recently created a new wholly-owned subsidiary known as Apple Energy LLC and filed an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which regulates power companies, to be able to sell electricity and other power grid services to non-utility customers. The move is a strong sign that Apple will not only fulfill its plans to operate on 100 percent renewable energy through net-metering, but plans to generate and sell renewable energy back to the grid.

Unilever will work with NRG Energy to ensure that 100% of its U.S. energy needs are met through clean and renewable sources by 2020. Unilever already purchases renewable energy certificates to cover 100% of its U.S. electricity consumption, but will transition to direct renewable energy generation with the help of NRG.

Renewable energy projects surpassed all other sources of new electricity added to the global supply last year, says a new report released this week by the International Energy Agency. In 2015, renewables made up more than half of all new installed capacity, with the greatest gains seen in onshore wind and solar. It's a development that speaks to a "transformation of global power markets,"

Lens Technology has agreed to use 100% renewables to produce all of its products it manufacturers for Apple in China, according to the companies. The company has already signed a long-term power purchase agreement that will supply 100% of its electricity needs by 2018.

Washington DC enacted a law committing the district to 50% renewable energy by 2032. In addition, the bill lays out a program to cut electricity bills in half for about 100,000 district residents by 2032 through the use of renewables.

New York cements its position as a national renewable energy leader today with a New York Public Service Commission (PSC) order requiring that 50 percent of the state's electricity must from clean, renewable sources like solar and wind power by 2030.

Global carbon dioxide emissions were flat for the second consecutive year in 2015 due, in part, to renewables, according to the International Energy Agency. The report said that renewables accounted for about 90% new installed capacity last year, and wind represented at least half of that total. Meanwhile, the world's economy jumped about 3% last year, "offering further evidence that the link between economic growth and emissions growth is weakening," said the report.

HP has committed to powering its global operations with 100 percent renewable energy - and says it plans to reach the 40 percent renewable electricity mark by 2020 - because, as Nate Hurst, HP's chief sustainability and social impact officer says, "both cost-effective and low carbon sources of energy are essential to the future and the growth of HP's business."