(Bloomberg) -- Baker Hughes Co., one of the world’s largest oil-services companies, is pledging to power all its Texas operations with wind and solar.

Switching to renewables at more than 170 of the Houston-based company’s facilitates in the state will eliminate 12% of its global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a statement Wednesday.

While Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and other oil giants have begun taking steps to address climate change, Baker Hughes and its peers -- the hired hands of the oil patch -- have largely sat on the sidelines. Baker Hughes now aims to eliminate carbon emissions on a net basis by 2050.

The move comes as clean energy has become affordable enough to compete with fossil fuels. That’s especially true in Texas, where oil production is driving up demand for power and wind is the cheapest source available. Exxon Mobil Corp. last year agreed to buy 500 megawatts of wind and solar power in Texas.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net;David Wethe in Houston at dwethe@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Joe Ryan, Joe Richter

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