As the world navigates the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are focusing not only on their business strategy, but also on their approach to key environmental and social issues. One of several areas we are focusing on now is our commitment to sustainable business practices and reporting. Today, we are taking another important step toward increased transparency with our inaugural Sustainability Report.
Two years ago, we announced our commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent and support our global operations with 100 percent renewable energy by the end of 2020. We’re excited to share in this report highlights of the significant progress we’ve made. While we already share much of our environmental data publicly, our goal with this report is to make our progress even more accessible and provide clear information on the work we’re doing to reach our sustainability goals. The report offers a closer look at the sustainability progress we made in 2019, as well as our ongoing commitment to address climate change.
We are on track to achieve our goals later this year. In 2019 alone, we achieved a 59 percent reduction in our operational greenhouse gas emissions over 2017 levels, and we reached 86 percent renewable energy. We were also recognized as the No. 1 corporate buyer of renewable energy in the United States by the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance — and No. 2 in the world by Bloomberg NEF. Additionally, we committed to our first direct investment in a renewable energy project with the 300 MW Prospero Solar Project in Texas.
We’ve also accelerated our support in local communities, including investing in water restoration projects that will replenish 206,000 cubic meters (55 million gallons) of water per year and financing projects that strengthened the renewable energy market. For example, in New Mexico, the projects we have partnered on have collectively restored miles of stream, 17 acres of off-channel floodplain wetland habitat, and helped with the protection of a number of endangered species, including the Rio Grande silvery minnow, the southwestern willow flycatcher, and the Rio Grande cutthroat trout.