CyrusOne, the third-largest U.S. data center provider, announced on Wednesday that it plans to become carbon neutral by 2040 by reducing its carbon emissions. In order to achieve its goal, CyrusOne will focus on using renewable energy to power its data centers, designing energy-efficient new buildings and upgrading its existing facilities.
CyrusOne’s carbon neutral pledge supports recent global actions to offset the carbon emissions it generates from fossil fuels by investing in renewable energy projects that pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
As CyrusOne moves into new markets, it will focus on buying renewable energy, using green power and integrating sustainable designs in all of its facilities. At its existing facilities, CyrusOne is evaluating upgrades and technologies that reduce its carbon emission along with adding renewable power to the grid.
The 2040 carbon neutral pledge builds on previous sustainable energy initiatives by CyrusOne, such as the utilization of building management systems, economizers, and high efficiency chillers. CyrusOne will also publish its first, comprehensive sustainability report in October.
Last year, CyrusOne announced that its London I, London II, and London III data centers were running on 100% renewable energy.
“Making a pledge to become carbon neutral within the next 20 years is an important milestone in our mission to increase our global sustainability efforts, and help customers toward their sustainability goals,” said Bruce W. Duncan, President and CEO of CyrusOne. “We recognize sustainability as a company-wide priority and are working to reduce our environmental footprint."
While the fall colors are starting to pop, the telecom industry has taken on a decidedly green tinge of late with announcements of various renewable energy initiatives.
Last week, Verizon issued a second $1 billion green bond after offering its first green bond last year for the same amount. On Earth Day last year, Verizon announced that it would go carbon neutral by 2035 in terms of all sources of emissions owned or controlled by Verizon and all sources of emissions purchased by Verizon.
RELATED: Google goes big on green pledge
Also last week, Google announced one of the most ambitious environmental pledges across the telecoms industry, which included its goal to only use carbon-free sources by 2030.