Accelerating the Transition into A Clean Energy Future
Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure company, that enables industry-leading organisations in finance, manufacturing, mobility, transportation, government, healthcare and education, to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success in a digital-first world.
Synonymous with its prime focus to serve as a vendor-neutral multi-tenant data center provider enabling competing networks to securely connect and share data traffic, the business was appointed a moniker that exemplifies Equality, Neutrality and Exchange, essentially making up Equinix.
Through its trusted and robust Platform Equinix®, the business supports over 400,000 interconnections worldwide, with at least 50% belonging to Fortune 500 companies. Equinix’s rich, global ecosystem comprises more than 1,800 network services, over 3,000 cloud and IT services.
At present, Equinix’s global footprint encompasses over 230 International Business Exchange® data centers across more than 65 markets in 5 continents, connecting enterprises, networks, services and innovators in major cities around the world. Equinix’s colocation services are also backed by ongoing on-site technical support, world-class physical security, and over 99.9999% average uptime, thus extending optimum foundational infrastructure to power the success of these digital leaders.
Equinix’s operations is centered upon integrity, neutrality and innovation, and beyond that, the business prides itself as an unparalleled catalyst for change pertaining to sustainability and wholly exemplifies what it means to strive for a greener future. Albeit the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with other large corporations being hyper focused on rebuilding their businesses, Equinix’s pledge to its sustainability considerations never took a back seat.
As a leader in data center sustainability, Equinix has taken steps to minimize its carbon footprint and reduce its energy consumption – all the while expanding their footprint globally. This is done by designing, building and operating efficient and sustainable data centers globally. Equinix’s portfolio of IBX data centers has doubled since 2015 and their overall efficiency has improved from 1.62 to 1.51, even as the portfolio remains a mix of old and new sites.
As a real estate investment trust (REIT) and global leader in the data center industry, Equinix harnesses the power of technology and interconnection for a more sustainable future for all. In essence, Equinix commits to protecting the planet through continuous innovation to achieve its long-term goal of 100% clean and renewable energy across its global interconnection and data center platform, boosting efficiency in both design and operations to ensure resiliency. In 2020, 91% of its electricity consumption was from procured renewable energy, further cementing Equinix’s commitment to a greener global presence. Amongst Equinix’s operations in Asia-Pacific, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore have achieved a 100% renewable energy goal in 2020, with the region as a whole achieving 75% renewable energy
In alignment with its corporate sustainability strategy, Equinix established a set of interconnected environment, social and governance commitments designed to create shared value amongst all of its stakeholders. The oversight, conveyance and alignment of these sustainability commitments are managed through Equinix’s Sustainability Program Office, which extends sustainability knowledge and leadership in defining and implementing initiatives, processes and systems solutions across all functional areas. These efforts are further governed by the company’s Sustainability Executive Steering Committee comprising a few of its C-level executives.
Across its environmental, social and governance pillars, Equinix has made incremental progress based on its goals and targets. Amongst some of its notable sustainability accomplishments to date include having driven down its carbon footprint by 60% since 2015 despite the twofold increase in its data center footprint and energy consumption; a growth in the number of female and military veteran applicants through its journey of embedding diversity and inclusion across all business activities; and an overall boost in gender diversity across its Board of Directors by as much as 30% as of January 2020.
Equinix’s commitment to sustainability is also evident throughout its operations, so as to yield minimal negative environmental impact as it seeks to be exemplary stewards of the environment and all of the resources it consumes while supporting its customers in operating more sustainably. These commitments include the protection of the planet and climate, the safeguarding of worldwide energy resources, and the guardianship of its infrastructure. There are also its Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Business Continuity Program (BCP) teams in place to oversee all climate- and environment-related threats and risks.
To maintain transparency, all of the company’s environmental impacts are recorded via peer-reviewed Sustainability Materiality Assessments, which highlight environmental topics including energy, renewable energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. In January 2021, Equinix also joined the EU Climate Neutrality Data Centre Pact as a charter member and began leading European cloud infrastructure, data center providers and trade associations, committing to a self-regulatory initiative to ensure climate neutrality by 2030 while capturing set targets across all related areas. Aside from disclosing its climate change data through the CDP Climate Change Survey annually, its energy and greenhouse gas data are externally verified in compliance with the ISO 14064-3 limited assurance standards.
With over millions invested in energy efficiency upgrades, retrofits, improvements and execution, Equinix has averted the same amount of carbon 90,000 cars would emit driving 1 billion miles throughout 1 year. It also partners with third-party global provider of ESG research, ratings and data, Sustainalytics, to release inaugural green bonds to promote the transparency, integrity and advancement of the standardisation of disclosures in the development of green debt.
Finally, Equinix’s environmental considerations are reflected across the design and delivery of its products and services as well as its corresponding value chain. On top of remaining in compliance with global and regional standards, Equinix has acquired numerous accreditations and established an engineering-driven program to set the seal on its efforts. As far as its value chain goes, Equinix ensures that its partners maintain high standards of ethics and environmental compliance, and proactively participates in forums to influence renewable energy generation and consumption, and advocate for the use of low-carbon energy products.
The numerous breakthroughs and accolades amassed by Equinix thus far is a true testament to its environmental excellence, and the business is undoubtedly a class above the rest as a crucial market differentiator for its green power use and advocacy which accelerates the seamless transition into a clean energy future while empowering others in realising the benefits of green transformation.
“Equinix has most definitely pushed the envelope with its concerted efforts to go green, and has demonstrated an unwavering spirit through its selfless and voracious appetite to drive big picture change in environmental sustainability for a better future for all.”
Shanggari Balakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, MORS Group
