Climate Neutral Certification
Leaseweb Netherlands and Leaseweb Germany have each been awarded the Climate Neutral Data Center Certificate. This certifies that data centers meet requirements in circular economy (recycling IT equipment and waste neutrality) in line with goals to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. As a signatory of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, successfully passing this audit was a requirement which we were proud to achieve.
Our Sustainability Goals
As a global organization, Leaseweb has set the goal of reaching 90% renewable energy and recycled materials by 2025. It’s no secret that data centers consume large amounts of energy, so we believe carbon neutrality is simply not enough. Renewable energy is the way forward.
If you have questions regarding Leaseweb’s EMS, policies, or environmental issues affecting our operations, feel free to contact us at sustainanability@global.leaseweb.com.
Green Initiatives at Leaseweb
Green Data Center Selection
Globally, we only choose data centers with the best Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). PUE is a metric that helps determine the energy efficiency of a data center. It’s a ratio of the amount of power needed to operate and cool the data center vs. the amount of power drawn by the IT equipment in the data center. Every data center should strive for their PUE readings to be as close to the number one as possible. Data centers that do not operate efficiently will use more energy and have higher PUE readings. At Leaseweb, we choose data centers that actively measure and reduce their power consumption and energy costs and have the lowest PUE readings.
Additionally, wherever we can, we use green power. For example, all our Montreal data centers use 100% hydroelectric energy, and, in the Netherlands, we select data centers that incorporate adiabatic cooling. This is a process of reducing heat by a natural phenomenon that regulates temperature. It removes heat by evaporating water, which simultaneously humidifies and cools the air by a couple degrees.
Energy Efficient Infrastructure Selection
At Leaseweb, we optimize our equipment to be efficient in energy consumption so that our customers use and spend less. We select servers with energy efficiency modes that deliver by default the most energy-efficient performance. This includes a mode which consumes a very low amount of energy when the servers are idle. The servers that are not sold to a customer are switched off entirely.
We focus on offering cloud platforms, which allow our customers to combine workloads and optimize how the equipment is being used. Additionally, we offer a balanced product portfolio with efficient Central Processing Units (CPUs) that consume as little power as possible but provide the power our customers need.
FLASH-storage is our chosen type of storage, since, with its high-speed performance and very low power consumption, it provides the best possible power-to-performance ratio. Investigating different architectures that save energy is a continuous process at Leaseweb.
Recycling and Packaging Hardware
When a server has lived out its life, we don’t throw it away. Rather, we destroy the data and reuse what we can. The rest is sent to a third party to be recycled. In this way, we significantly reduce our components waste. Additionally, when we order new equipment in bulk, individual small pieces are not packaged separately in order to reduce the amount of plastic we use.
Employee-level Initiatives
Our office spaces include recycling bins, automatic and efficient lighting, and no plastic cups – in fact we avoid plastic as much as food regulations allow. Our office in Amsterdam recently downsized from a 6-floor building to one half the size, as remote working has increased. Some teams work remotely 100% and this of course reduces employee travel as well. The Leaseweb Green Team is responsible for spearheading new green initiatives and consists of members from every department within Leaseweb.
European Regulations We Comply With
The Energy Efficient Directive (EED) is a statement that data centers in Europe can have their customers sign. By signing this declaration, the customer agrees to report server settings to the data center and adjust them in order to reduce energy consumption. In this way, Leaseweb collaborates with our customers to ensure energy efficiency from all sides.
The European Green Deal aims to have zero net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050 and includes policies for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. In accordance with European climate laws and the Green Deal, the Climate Neutral Data Pact is an agreement to make data centers climate neutral by 2030. Leaseweb, in cooperation with the European Commission, helped create this pact. The agreement was initialized through Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE), of which we are a founding member.
The Do No Significant Harm principle (DNSH) identifies six criteria that determine whether an economic activity causes ecological harm. Leaseweb complies with all six criteria, including GHG emissions, water protection, circular economy, pollution control, climate change adaptation, and the protection of ecosystems.
