KPIs for each year in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2030

Diegem, 6 June 2023 - Data center specialist LCL is publishing its first sustainability report, which contains specific KPIs. The main climate-related target is to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. LCL's plans for accomplishing this include using the biofuel HVO100 for all its emergency generators, installing a more environmentally friendly gaseous fire-extinguishing system, reducing the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of its data centers to 1.3, optimising its cooling installations on an ongoing basis, launching circular projects for the reuse of hardware, and setting up a reward system for employees who reduce their environmental footprint. Together with the many tangible initiatives the company has already introduced, this report confirms that LCL is at the forefront of the Belgian data center world when it comes to sustainability.

LCL is publishing its first ever sustainability report. The report contains clearly defined targets for the short, medium and long term that are ambitious yet achievable. Moving forward, LCL will monitor its progress on an ongoing basis and make adjustments as necessary based on its selected KPIs. The company will also report on its progress in a transparent manner every year.

Awareness of the importance of the environment and sustainability has always been part of the DNA of LCL Data Centers. This was confirmed two years ago when LCL committed to two initiatives: the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (CNDCP) and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). LCL's drive towards sustainability will now include a range of specific KPIs, which the company is publishing in its first ESG report.

Cutting carbon emissions by 42% by 2030

In order to reduce its environmental footprint, LCL aims to cut its data center carbon emissions by 42% by 2030. The company has defined four specific action points for accomplishing this:

  1. LCL will use HVO100 for the emergency generators in all its data centers by 2024. In October 2022, the data center specialist announced that LCL Brussels-West (the data center in Aalst) would be the first data center to power emergency generators using this renewable biofuel, which is a sustainable alternative to ordinary diesel and emits 90% less carbon dioxide. By using this biofuel for the emergency generators in all its data centers, LCL is making measurable progress towards achieving the SBTi targets. More specifically, the impact of this will be a reduction of 72 tons of carbon dioxide, or 4.6% of Scope 1 emissions.
  2. LCL will lower the PUE, a ratio that reflects how efficiently energy is used, of all its data centers to 1.3 by 2030. Currently, the data center in Aalst already has a PUE of less than 1.3.
  3. LCL wants to have a fully electric fleet by 2027.

During the next few years, the data center specialist intends to replace the existing gaseous fire-extinguishing system with an environmentally friendly gaseous fire-extinguishing system: Novec 1230. This will ensure no carbon dioxide is released if any incidents occur.

Report book

Proportion of self-generated green energy to increase from nearly 5% to 40% for all data centers by 2030

In addition, LCL wants self-generated green energy to account for 40% of the energy used at all its data center locations by 2030. All energy currently purchased by LCL is renewable, and 4.73% of the energy it uses is self-generated green energy. In order to achieve its target of 40% self-generated green energy, LCL wants to conclude renewable energy contracts (Corporate Power Purchase Agreements) with local players before the end of this year. By doing this, LCL intends to support local initiatives and promote energy production in Belgium.

LCL is also introducing other initiatives in 2023 to make its data centers more sustainable. For instance, the data center specialist will optimise its cooling installations on an ongoing basis, it will launch circular projects for the reuse of hardware, and it will set up a reward system for employees who reduce their environmental footprint.

Besides introducing environmental initiatives, LCL will also focus on social targets, such as investing in safety and wellbeing in the workplace, and governance targets, such as obtaining the latest ISO certifications.

At the forefront of the Belgian data center sector

It is highly unusual for a sustainability report of this kind to be published by an SME with only 43 employees (May 2023). This confirms that sustainability has always been at the center of LCL's strategy.

‘Our drive towards sustainability is being continued with the publication of our first ESG report, which contains specific KPIs for 2023 and the coming years. We are keen to show that we mean what we say and that we will make serious efforts to bring about gradual improvements in sustainability in the data center sector. By publishing this report, LCL confirms it is at the forefront when it comes to sustainability. We hope to serve as an example to other data center players in Belgium and Europe, and want to encourage them to set their own KPIs to make the data center world climate neutral by 2030’, Laurens van Reijen, Managing Director of LCL Data Centers, concluded.

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