Green Mountain releases first sustainability report

Green Mountain has come forward with its first sustainability report, which focused on seven ESG areas: energy, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, water, biodiversity, social responsibility, and governance. Some of the highlights noted in the report included that all of its data centers now operate on 100% renewable power, with a PUE below 1.2, compared with the global industry average of 1.59. Meanwhile, its scope 1 & 2 carbon footprint is at 3,24 grams CO₂e/kWh and it's also piloting projects on heat-reuse.

Over the years, Green Mountain has participated in a number of sustainability initiatives, including its partnership with Hima Seafood, which saw it use its facility to heat a trout farm in Rjukan, Norway and use heat exchanger technology to return cool water to cool its servers. Likewise, it has also participated in a similar project regarding an on-land lobster farm built next to its DC1-Stavanger data center in Rennesøy.

Commenting on the report, Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO of Green Mountain, commented: "For many years I believed a sustainability report was unnecessary as we have always worked with a vision of setting the green standard in the industry. However, our clients and stakeholders demand more transparency in what we are doing and what our next goals are. This will also make it easier to hold us accountable."

Torkild Follaug, Sustainability manager in Green Mountain, added: "Our own emissions are very low, but it is still a challenge to bring them down to zero. We will continue to work systematically to reach our goals and be transparent towards our stakeholders on our progress."