Posted by Bengaluru: The digital infrastructure company Equinix released its 2022 Sustainability Report on Tuesday. The report outlines the company’s efforts and progress on ESG goals, which it said are aligned with the UNSDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals). Interestingly, ESG goals reflect Equinix’s Future First strategy as it aims to have climate-neutral operations by 2030.
The Future First strategy, according to Equinix is driven by its resolve to set ambitious targets, measure and transparently report progress, lead with ethics and integrity, and engage with stakeholders to drive change. The company’s future vision broadly encompasses its ESG goals.
From an ESG goals perspective, Equinix has attained 96% renewable energy coverage of its operational load for 2022 with over 90% renewable energy coverage. It gained a 10% Y-o-Y increase in procurement of renewables on a Gwh-basis.
The company aims to reach 100% renewable energy coverage by 2030. With data centres at the centre of high power consumption and height emission, Equinix has committed to optimising operating temperature ranges within its data centres that will result in improvement of data centre efficiency and power usage effectiveness (PUE).
On the supplier side, the company has engaged 66% of its suppliers by qualified emissions to set a Science-Based Target (SBT) by 2025, with 17% of Scope 3 emissions now covered by supplier-set targets.
Besides, it launched the Equinix Foundation aimed at driving digital inclusion globally, with a $50 million contribution. It aims to provide technology access and connectivity to enable skills development needed for today’s digital world.
With the focus on diversity, it has increased women and Black/African American employees in the US by 13% and 20 % respectively in 2022.
Equinix said that it is among the first digital infrastructure companies to tie executive compensation to ESG performance. It has implemented a modifier to short-term incentives for VP-level employees and above such as executive officers.
With this move, the company aims to make its leaders accountable for fulfilling environmental and diversity objectives. On the company’s Board of Directors, three women were added recently.
“Equinix believes in the future of possibility – a future where our planet is healthy, our global communities thrive, and every business leads with purpose,” said Keith Taylor, CFO of Equinix.
“We believe the opportunity for our company remains strong as we continue to see our customers look to Platform Equinix as a key partner in advancing their digital transformation agenda, sustainably,” added Taylor.
“We are proud of what we’ve achieved thus far and look forward to continuing to make further progress in 2023 and beyond as we press our competitive advantage,” concluded Taylor.