AirTrunk releases sustainability report and net zero emissions roadmap

Asia-Pacific hyperscale data centre specialist AirTrunk has announced the release of its first sustainability report as well as a timeline for its net-zero emissions roadmap in 2022.

Data Centre sustainability is increasingly a point of competitive advantage for organisations such as Airtrunk.

For instance businesses like Fujitsu and NextDC has partnered with providers like Qantas Future Planet to help their customers offset the carbon emissions they generate from the data centre services they hire.

For its part, AirTrunk offsets its own Scope 1 emissions by buying what it considers high quality, Australian offsets for its own usage according to the report. For Scope 2 emissions from electricity consumption, its approach is to reduce carbon emissions using renewables rather than offsetting.

The company's hyperscale customers include some of the world’s largest technology companies who prefer to use renewables to reduce carbon emissions, instead of buying carbon offsets from it. 

AIrTrunk also provides renewable energy sourcing options for its customers at all facilities and it has a goal of achieving 100 per cent renewable supply in the future to enable Paris-aligned targets.

Indeed within the report, Airtrunk announced that it had achieved 100 per cent carbon neutrality for all of its corporate scope 1 and scope 2 emissions.

The company says it has also achieved industry-leading power usage effectiveness (PUE), setting a target to reach an annual operating PUE range of 1.23-1.28 across its stabilised portfolio.

The announcements follow AirTrunk’s conversion of its $2.1 million corporate loan facility to a sustainability linked loan, linking its financing to KPIs involving diversity, inclusion, carbon neutrality and energy efficiency.

“As the largest independent hyperscale data centre operator in the Asia-Pacific region, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to protect the environments and communities in which we operate,” said AirTrunk founder and chief executive officer, Robin Khuda.

“Our inaugural sustainability report demonstrates that we’re serious about taking accountability and action when it comes to sustainability. This includes choosing a high level of transparency, publishing commitments to reduce our carbon emissions and an actual operating PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) target,” he added.

AirTrunk creates platforms for cloud, content and large enterprise customers across the APAC region.

Within the report, AirTrunk outlines its sustainability strategy in relation to three primary pillars: planet people and progress.

“As part of our ongoing commitment, we will be developing a roadmap to drive us towards a progressive net zero emissions target. In 2022, we plan to share our net-zero emissions strategy which is being developed in line with market best practices and the Paris Agreement,” said Dana Adams, AirTrunk’s chief operating officer.

“This is just the beginning as we work towards achieving our goal of setting the standard in data centre sustainability. We continue to put sustainability at the heart of our strategy, working with our customers, partners, and investors to create solid foundations for a scalable yet sustainable future.”

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