Digital Infrastructure company Equinix announced today a new science-based target aimed at achieving reductions across its global operations and supply chain by 2030. The company is committed to engaging its stakeholders to achieve transparency and impact. Equinix stated that its aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The company believes its own sustainability infrastructure decisions can have major implications on companies with sustainability goals. Recent research from professional services firm Accenture indicated that shifting from on-premise data centers to the public cloud can reduce an enterprise’s energy usage by 65% and cut carbon emissions by more than 84%, with potential benefits including power, cooling, and hardware efficiency, compute utilization, sustainable software engineering, and carbon-free energy usage, among others.
The Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) approved Equinix’s emissions reduction target, building on the company’s growing track record on sustainable growth and innovation, including achieving over 90% renewable energy coverage for its data centers from 2018 to 2020. The company’s new commitments include cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions in half by 2030. To achieve its goal, Equinix is aiming to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030, as well as pursuing energy efficiency saving, reducing refrigerant loss, phasing out high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, and replacing diesel generators with cleaner technologies.
In its own supply chain, the company is also collaborating with top suppliers responsible for 66% of Equinix’s purchases goods and services and capital goods supplier-related emissions to set their own science-based goals by 2025. The company will also address fuel and energy related activities (FERA), with the goal to halve the carbon-associated delivery of power by 2030.
The SBTi target marks the latest in a series of ESG-focused initiatives from Equinix: The company aims to achieve climate neutrality across its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, as well as researching innovations related to biodiesel, green hydrogen, and other low-carbon on-site generation technologies.
Jennifer Cooke, Research Director at IDC, commented:
“Equinix is leading by example to help create a more sustainable datacenter ecosystem. As illustrated by setting a science-based target, the company continues to make significant investments and progress in running highly efficient facilities and in buying renewable energy to reduce its impact on the environment, while demonstrating its commitment to transparency in reporting around its operational footprint.”
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