AirTrunk links all debt funding platforms to ESG commitments

APJ hyperscale data centre specialist AirTrunk has linked 100 percent of its debt funding platforms to sustainability commitments.

This is following the raising of a $650 million sustainability linked loan (SLL) in Japan. Across its financing platforms, AirTrunk has raised $5 billion in environmental, social and governance (ESG) financing.  

The incremental Japan SLL will finance a major expansion of AirTrunk TOK1 (TOK1) and is the first SLL for a data centre in Japan, and the first in APJ to combine operating energy and water efficiency as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Energy and water are critical and interdependent resources that impact a data centre’s environmental footprint.

As part of its commitment to accountability and transparency, AirTrunk continues to focus its financing KPIs on actual energy usage through operating power usage effectiveness (PUE) as opposed to design PUE.

AirTrunk said it plans to invest any margin incentives from the Japan SLL into social impact initiatives within Japan. Plans are underway to expand the program across APJ to support long term initiatives aligned to AirTrunk’s purpose of scaling and sustaining the region’s digital future.

This will include supporting initiatives across four focus areas: equal digital access, STEM education, biodiversity and conservation and innovation, research and development.

The new SLL follows AirTrunk’s previously announced sustainable financing including the TOK2 green loan in September 2022 which was the first for a data centre in Japan, and the inaugural $2.1 billion corporate SLL announced in September 2021, which set several industry benchmarks including being the largest globally at the time, the first for a data centre in APJ and the first to utilise operating PUE as a KPI.

Prashant Murthy, CFO at AirTrunk said, “By driving innovation in sustainable financing and creating a lasting impact in our communities, we are committed to powering positive industry change.

“We have now linked all our debt platforms to sustainability commitments, more than doubling our sustainable financing since our inaugural SLL launched in 2021. Our sustainable finance platform complements our recent commitment to net zero emissions by 2030.”

As demand for hyperscale digital infrastructure in Japan increases, AirTrunk is expanding its flagship Japan data centre, TOK1 located in Inzai, Chiba prefecture near Tokyo.

The expansion includes the development of a 55MW building, as part of the broader 300+MW campus, to service a large new technology customer.

Deutsche Bank, Credit Agricole CIB and MUFG Bank acted as joint sustainability structuring agents on the TOK1 SLL.