- Milestone supports Digital Realty’s global commitment to reduce direct emissions by 68% and indirect emissions by 24% by 2030
- Paris expected to consolidate position as leading international metro by 2024 according to Digital Realty’s Data Gravity Index DGx™
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1 December 2020
PARIS, FRANCE – 1 December 2020 – Interxion: A Digital Realty Company (NYSE:DLR, news, filings) and leading European provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral colocation data centre solutions, announced today its French subsidiary is on target to achieve a carbon neutral footprint for its existing French data centres by the end of 2020. Interxion France’s sustainability plan projects it will remain carbon neutral through 2030 for both existing facilities and future expansion, based on scope 1 and 2 emissions.
This milestone supports Digital Realty’s global sustainability commitment to target a 68% reduction in direct emissions and a 24% reduction in indirect emissions by 2030, in line with a 1.5-degree climate change scenario and along with over 1,000 organisations that have committed to reduce emissions through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Interxion’s growing investment in sustainable solutions is especially significant given the growing demand for hybrid IT services in the region. With its expanding enterprise presence, Paris has emerged as one of the leading metros for data gravity intensity worldwide and a hub for digital infrastructure expansion, according to Digital Realty’s recently published Data Gravity Index DGx™.
Committed to targeting carbon neutrality since 2014
Interxion France has been working to reduce its carbon footprint since 2014 and was the first major data centre operator in France to purchase electricity from renewable energy sources. On an annual basis, the company procures renewable energy from French-based projects equivalent to its total energy consumption in the country.
The French sustainability milestone is the result of concerted efforts to reduce the energy consumption of the company’s data centre infrastructure in France. Between 2014 and 2020, the company reduced its CO2/m2 emissions in France by an average of 20% per year, while simultaneously increasing IT capacity available for customers in France by 14% annually.
The company also expects to deploy a new high-efficiency river cooling solution using cold water from a decommissioned coal mine in its MRS2 and MRS3 data centres in Marseille. This innovation is up to 30 times more energy efficient than traditional cooling systems, making Interxion’s Marseille data centres among the most efficient in France.
Interxion France: Annual emissions of only 98 kg of CO2/m2 of customer IT space
Due to the success of its energy efficiency programme, Interxion France only had to compensate for 2,435 tonnes of CO2 in 2020, the equivalent of overall scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions from its data centre operations for the year. To reach carbon neutrality by year-end, the company invested in a certified Gold Standard project, which sets specific targets to quantify, certify and maximise the impact of sustainability initiatives.
Interxion is also supporting a reforestation program called Reforest’Action, an organisation that protects, restores and plants new forests around the world, with a goal of planting over 17,000 new trees. Two reforestation sites in France will be included, one in the south and one in Ile-de-France region, near Interxion’s data centres. The reforestation programme will include several local tree species per site, which are adapted to the regional ecology and are resistant to global warming.
“One of the benefits of this approach, which has been underway for many years, is that it allows us to support our clients to achieve their corporate social responsibility objectives by offering them the sustainable solutions they expect,” said Fabrice Coquio, managing director of Interxion France.
“As a result, we are directly helping to offset our customers’ carbon footprint and make their digital activities more environmentally responsible. We are proud to say that Interxion France is on pace to be carbon neutral by year-end 2020, with plans to maintain our carbon neutral status through at least 2030.”
About Interxion: A Digital Realty Company
Interxion: A Digital Realty Company, is a leading provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre services across EMEA. With more than 700 connectivity providers in over 100 data centres across 13 European countries, Interxion provides communities of connectivity, cloud and content hubs. As part of Digital Realty, customers now have access to 49 metros across six continents. For more information, please visit www.interxion.com.
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the world’s leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture PDx™ solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity challenges. Digital Realty’s global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with more than 280 facilities in 49 metros across 24 countries on six continents. To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Media & Industry Analyst Relations
Marc Musgrove
Digital Realty
+1 (415) 508-2812
Claire Chadourne
Interxion France
+33 4 13 68 33 31
Investor Relations
John J. Stewart / Jim Huseby
Digital Realty
+1 (415) 738-6500
InvestorRelations@digitalrealty.com
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to our French subsidiaries carbon neutral metrics and progress, our sustainability and carbon emissions goals and initiatives, Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Data Gravity Index DGx™, the reforestation program, and our cooling systems. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the company’s reports and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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