Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Corporate Governance
• Anti-Corruption and Business Ethics
• Information Security and Data Privacy Protection
• Human Capital Development
• Low-Carbon Development
• Social Responsibility and Innovation

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced GHG emissions by 187,018 tCO2e through energy-saving methods in data centers, office buildings, and charging stations.
• Xiaodu Farm users completed 100 million green journeys, representing a total carbon emissions reduction of 44,010 tCO2e.
• Yangquan Data Center generated 120,000 kWh of power a year with its solar photovoltaic system. Yizhuang Data Center generated 155,000 kWh annually.

Social Achievements

• Reunited over 10,000 lost or trafficked people with their families using AI.
• Donated books and necessities to approximately 1,000 schools in 28 provinces across China through Baidu Xiaojudeng Charity Platform.
• Launched Ai Ta Xin Fang mini-program to help address common female psychological problems, providing online consultations for over 1.2 million users.
• Baidu Maps’ Ambulance Reminder made 10 million notifications, improving ambulance response times.

Governance Achievements

• Established the Baidu Environmental, Social and Governance Committee (ESG Committee).
• Enacted six regulations and additional terms related to business ethics and anti-corruption.
• All Baidu employees passed the annual online professional ethics test in 2019.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Reducing GHG emissions from data centers, office buildings, commuter shuttles, and charging stations.
• Maintaining information security and data privacy protection in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
• Balancing business growth with social responsibility and environmental sustainability.

Mitigation Strategies

• Implementing energy-saving technologies in data centers (e.g., natural cooling module, chilled water system).
• Establishing a top-down management system for privacy protection with a three-line defense mechanism.
• Investing in employee training and awareness programs on information security and data privacy.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Strict screening criteria for external partners, including sustainable development, business ethics, and conflict of interest reporting.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Not disclosed

Transition Risks

• Not disclosed

Opportunities

• Not disclosed

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Nasdaq ESG Reporting Guidelines 2.0, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines

Certifications: ISO/IEC certifications (for Baidu Cloud, Baidu Drive)

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Xiaodu Farm (green travel), AI Waste Sorting mini-program

Awards & Recognition

• ODCC 2019 Project Award, China Association of Communications Enterprises’ Advanced Unit of Energy Saving Technology Innovation, China Corporate Social Responsibility Excellent Project, China Charity Corporate Award, China’s Top 10 Respected Companies, Top 10 of China Corporate Social Responsibility 500, Best Practice Award for Enterprises Achieving Sustainable Development Goals, Best Innovation Award for Government Industry Technology Application Scenario, Outstanding Award for Responsible Corporate, Most Attractive Employer and Most Attractive Employer in the Internet Industry by Universum, 2019 Employer Excellence of China and 2019 Campus Employer Excellence of China by 51jobs, the 2019 China Best Employer Award in Beijing and 2019 Campus Recruitment Campaign Award by Zhaopin, New Force · Favorite Employer of Young Chinese People Award by Shixiseng, Best Career Cooperative Partner Award by the America China Office Association.

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Corporate Governance
• Building Trust
• Nurturing Talents
• Promoting Sustainability
• Improving Service
• Contributing to Society

Environmental Achievements

• Annual average PUE of Baidu’s self-built data centers reached 1.14 in 2020, 76% lower than the industry’s average of 1.596.
• Purchased 45 million kWh of wind power and generated 293,000 kWh of photovoltaic power via rooftop systems on our data centers.
• Total usages of the MaaS Travel Program in Beijing exceeded 1.95 million, with over 2,000 tons of carbon emissions reduced.

Social Achievements

• Helped 11,942 missing people to be reunited with their families through AI Xunren.
• Cultivated over one million AI specialists in China.
• Women made up 42% of our staff and 44.6% of our managers.
• Employees received an average of 37.3 training hours—a 65.9% rise from 2019.

Governance Achievements

• Applied for 9,364 patents and were granted 2,682 (highest among Chinese Internet companies in 2020).
• Joined the Enterprise Anti-fraud Alliance.
• Organized more than 50,000 online security training sessions.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Risks associated with finance, operations, fraud, network security, and external regulation.
• Extreme weather and climate events posing risks to assets such as IDCs.
• Talent turnover

Mitigation Strategies

• Established a ‘three levels + three lines of defense’ risk management framework.
• Developed emergency procedures for extreme climate scenarios, including decentralized server rooms and off-site backups.
• Continuously track employee turnover rate, summarize the reasons for employee turnover, and take targeted optimization and improvement measures to reduce employee turnover.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Management Rules for Suppliers
• Baidu Measures for Supplier Daily Management and Handling Complaints
• Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility Requirements for Partners

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather events (snowstorms, typhoons, heavy rainfall) causing power supply interruption and urban flooding, impacting IDCs.

Transition Risks

• Not disclosed

Opportunities

• Not disclosed

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: UNGC, GRI Standard, ESG Reporting Guidelines 2.0 (Nasdaq), Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Rules

Certifications: ISO 22301 (business continuity management system), ISO 27001 (Information Security Management System), ISO 27017 (Cloud Security Management System), ISO 27701 (Privacy Information Management System)

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• AI temperature monitoring system
• AI Waste-Sorting Mini-program
• MaaS Travel Program
• Baidu Xunren
• Baidu Wufu Intelligent Senior Care Platform
• Xiaodu Smart Display Elder Mode

Awards & Recognition

• Harvard Business Review’s top five global AI companies
• MIT Technology Review’s 50 Smartest Companies
• World Benchmark Alliance’s Digital Inclusion Benchmark (ranked second in China, 42nd in the world)
• Forbes’ World’s Best Employers
• Advanced Anti-pandemic Group in Industry and Information Technology (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)
• Four China Patent Awards

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Data and privacy protection
• Information security
• Protection of employees' rights
• Product quality assurance
• Improving user experience
• Staff development
• Protecting Employees' benefit
• Protecting intellectual property rights
• Anti-corruption and business ethics
• Ecological management of contents
• Energy and resource conservation
• Low-carbon operations
• Contribution to community/charity
• Occupational health
• Supplier sustainability management
• Effectiveness of board governance
• Emission management

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced energy consumption of heating enterprises by 10-20% and estimated carbon dioxide emissions by 19 kg/m2 through 'Integrating Cloud and AI' intelligent heating mode.
• Generated 6,074,031 kWh of electricity from renewable energy sources.
• Baidu data centers signed a contract to introduce 1 billion kWh of green power, and the Yizhuang Data Center participated in green power trading in Beijing, with a transaction volume of 5,080 MWh.
• Reduced urban traffic carbon emissions by 70 million tons by 2030 (projected).

Social Achievements

• Launched the Campus AIDU Program, resulting in a 196.5% annual increase in resumes received.
• Increased average training hours per employee by approximately 4 hours.
• Increased female representation in management to 43.9%.
• Launched the Green Pine Program providing nationwide medical insurance for employees' parents.
• Launched the AI Sign Language Platform to help hearing-impaired people access information.

Governance Achievements

• Obtained ISO 37001 anti-bribery management system certification.
• Conducted 42 business ethics training sessions.
• Baidu Mobile Advertising and Baidu Maps were certified to the “SDK Security Special Evaluation”.
• Baidu AI Cloud obtained SOC 1, SOC 2 certifications.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Regulatory agencies and capital market rating indexes increasingly raised the disclosure requirements for environmental information of enterprises.
• Under the background of the national carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, low-carbon technology is booming, putting forward higher requirements for Baidu’s energy conservation and environmental protection technology R&D, facility application and special investment in energy conservation and emission reduction.
• As the public’s demand for low-carbon consumption increases, if Baidu’s existing data centers and products such as Xiao Du smart homes fail to effectively reduce carbon emissions in the production and operation process, it will directly lead to a lower demand for related products and services from downstream customers due to a low-carbon consumption preference, resulting in a decline in business revenue.
• Potential concerns will be raised by customers, investors, and the public of “greenwashing behavior” if Baidu only releases the climate strategy or relevant statement without concrete actions, thus undermining the corporate image.
• Extreme weather events such as typhoons and extreme precipitation may disrupt the daily operations of the data centers and the Company, thus negatively affecting the business operation and corporate image.
• Changes in climate and precipitation patterns may lead to risks such as continuous high temperatures and water scarcity, which may increase the water use cost for data centers’ operations and pose greater challenges to the cooling and water saving technologies.

Mitigation Strategies

• Strengthening environmental information disclosure; Studying policy control risks, strengthening communication with stakeholders and responding to their requirements; Promoting the refinement of energy management; Disclosing the proportion of green technologies and clean energy used to achieve energy conservation and efficiency.
• Accelerating low-carbon technology transition; Exploring green and low-carbon technologies in fields such as lithium batteries, cooling systems and computing power as well as considering the suitability of technical solutions; Maximizing the consumption of renewable energy such as wind energy and solar energy in data centers, and adopting low-energy equipment.
• Responding to market demand for low-carbon consumption; Continuously introducing intelligent heating, water, transportation services and other green solutions for the transportation sector and high-emission enterprises to help customers achieve green and low-carbon transition; Building green data centers, and committing to providing customers with 100% renewable energy AI cloud services; Optimizing the packaging materials of Xiao Du smart homes and adopting renewable and recyclable materials.
• Managing reputational risk; Regularly disclosing emission reduction measures and results according to the six emission reduction pathways, and further formulating emission reduction targets and corresponding target attainment approaches.
• Reducing the impact of extreme weather; Completing the pre-analysis of local natural disasters according to the location of the data centers, so as to avoid the areas being affected by extreme weather in advance and protecting the safety of the data centers; Formulating emergency management plans for extreme natural disasters, contingency plans for natural disaster prevention and control, and emergency measures for unexpected incidents.
• Addressing changes in climate and precipitation patterns; The self-built data centers are preferentially built in the area where natural cold source technology can be efficiently utilized with abundant green energy (such as wind energy); Continuously developing liquid cooling technology to reduce energy consumption of mechanical refrigeration.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Regular supplier assessment and project evaluation

Responsible Procurement

• Baidu Sustainable Development Principles for Suppliers
• Honesty and Integrity Agreement
• Supplier Management Standards
• Supplier Incentives and Punishment Measures

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather events

Transition Risks

• Regulatory changes
• Market shifts

Opportunities

• Development of energy-efficient products and services

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Nasdaq ESG Reporting Guide 2.0, HKEX ESG Reporting Guide, UNGC Ten Principles, GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, SASB Standards, UN SDGs

Certifications: ISO 37001, ISO 45001, SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
• Goal 4: Quality Education
• Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Goal 13: Climate Action

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• AI Sign Language Platform
• Xiaodu smart speaker (hotel version)
• Intelligent Logistics Engine 2.0
• ACE Intelligent Transportation Engine

Awards & Recognition

• 2022 Bloomberg Green Gold ESG Pioneer Award
• 2022 Leap Progress Award on Climate Change by CDP
• Five awards (two silver medals and three excellence medals) at the 23rd China Patent Award Selection

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Corporate Governance
• Data Security and Privacy Protection
• Product Quality
• Green Opportunities
• Carbon Neutrality
• Human Rights Protection
• Community Development
• AI Ethics

Environmental Achievements

• Annual average PUE of Baidu data centers was 1.19, with an annual minimum of 1.11.
• Increased renewable energy consumption to 52,179,275.0 kWh
• Reduced diesel consumption to 81.1 t
• Achieved a water-saving rate of 44.8% per module in Baidu Yangquan Data Center, saving a total of 480,000 tons per year.
• Baidu Campus, Baidu Technology Park, and Baidu Kuike Technology Building obtained ISO 50001 and ISO 14001 certifications.
• Held a zero-carbon conference (Baidu World 2023)

Social Achievements

• Launched the "Galaxy Talent Cultivation Program" to cultivate 5 million large language model talents for society.
• Established the Baidu ERNIE Investment Fund with RMB1 billion for promising companies in the AIGC field.
• Donated Xiaodu smart learning devices to 1,000 teenagers in disaster-stricken areas in Gansu.
• Conducted community visits focusing on the physical and mental health of young people.
• Improved content moderation efficiency by an estimated 20% using AI large language models.
• Removed over 86.453 million pieces of harmful information through manual content moderation and over 60.436 billion pieces through automatic content moderation.
• Achieved 100% employee training coverage rate with an average of 38.5 training hours per employee.
• 85% of employees provided positive feedback in the employee engagement survey.

Governance Achievements

• Appointed a new female director.
• Achieved 100% signing rate for the Business Ethics and Code of Conduct Commitment Letter.
• Established the Technology Ethics Committee.
• Obtained ISO 37001 Anti-Bribery Management System Certification.
• Workplace transparency and integrity mechanism project awarded Special Innovative Projects in the "China Integrity Innovation Award".

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Increased energy consumption due to the rapid development of LLMs.
• Market risk due to increasing public demand for low-carbon consumption.
• Reputational risk from potential "greenwashing" concerns.
• Policy and legal risk from increasing environmental information disclosure requirements.
• Technical risk from the surge in low-carbon technology and the need for accelerated R&D in energy conservation and environmental protection technology.
• Acute risk from extreme weather events disrupting data center operations.
• Chronic risk from changes in climate and precipitation patterns increasing water use costs.

Mitigation Strategies

• Implementing refined energy management and regularly disclosing data.
• Launching green solutions and building green data centers.
• Strengthening environmental information disclosure and participating in capital market evaluations.
• Exploring the integration of AI, power supply systems, cooling systems, and computing power.
• Maximizing the use of renewable energy sources and adopting energy-efficient equipment.
• Conducting predictive analytics and automated scheduling through AI.
• Implementing various intelligent cooling solutions and systems.
• Completing pre-analysis of local natural disasters and formulating emergency management plans.
• Preferentially building data centers in areas with abundant green energy and utilizing natural cold source technology.
• Continuously developing liquid cooling technology.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Baidu Sustainable Development Principles for Suppliers

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather events (typhoons, extreme precipitation)
• Continuous high temperatures
• Water scarcity

Transition Risks

• Increased demand for low-carbon technology
• Changes in climate and precipitation patterns

Opportunities

• Development of energy-efficient products and services
• Launching green solutions for various industries

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Nasdaq ESG Reporting Guide 2.0, HKEX ESG Reporting Guide, UNGC Ten Principles, GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, SASB Standards, UN SDGs

Certifications: ISO 37001, ISO 45001, ISO 50001, ISO 14001

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 7 (Affordable and clean energy)
• Goal 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure)
• Goal 11 (Sustainable cities and communities)
• Goal 13 (Climate action)
• Goal 8 (Decent work and economic growth)
• Goal 3 (Good health and well-being)
• Goal 10 (Reduced inequalities)
• Goal 17 (Partnerships for the goals)

Baidu's initiatives contribute to these goals through various programs and actions detailed in the report.

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Xiaodu smart products with elderly-friendly features
• AI-powered code generation platform (Comate)
• Green data center technologies ("Iceberg" transformer cooling technology, "Lingxi" liquid cooling technology, immersion liquid cooling technology)

Awards & Recognition

• Special Innovative Projects in the "China Integrity Innovation Award"
• 2023 CSA Security Golden Shield Award
• 4th IFF Global Green Finance Award
• Annual Award of the IFF Global Green Finance Award
• WitAwards 2023 Outstanding Cybersecurity Solution Award
• 15 China Patent Awards on AI, including 1 Gold Award and 6 Silver Awards
• National Telecom Service Star for Customer Satisfaction
• National Telecom Service Star Team for Customer Satisfaction
• 3rd Most Beautiful Customer Service Award by China Consumers
• One of the Top 10 Data Management Brands of 2023
• Forbes—— 2023 China's Most Digitally Responsible Employer of the Year