Sustainability
Our goal: climate-friendly hosting
7 percent
Climate-friendly digitization
The energy requirements of German data centers are rising continuously, by around 50 percent since 2010. A study commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology forecasts that data centers in Germany in 2025 will require At 16.4 terawatt hours, around 7 percent of nationwide electricity consumption will account for.
How do we manage the balancing act between growing digitization needs and climate-friendly data centers and IT infrastructures in the short and medium term? As a business hosting provider that maps the entire range of IT infrastructure services and works with a large number of companies, we see it as our duty to drive forward climate-friendly digitization.
Our focus: Sustainability
If, like us, you place great value on sustainability, you've come to the right place! ScaleUp is already a pioneer in the areas of sustainable digitization and sustainable data centers. Since 2019, our company has been intensively addressing its ecological footprint.
With the ecocockpit of the Effizienz-Agentur NRW, we have drawn up our first climate balance sheet for the year 2021.
ScaleUp has established a Code of Conduct for its suppliers and business partners and selects products and services according to strict purchasing guidelines.
ESG Measures
100% Green power
Since 2020, all ScaleUp data centers have been running on certified green electricity from partly regional, renewable energies (excluding nuclear power), most data center sites since 2012.
Refurbished Hardware
ScaleUp is switching to refurbished hardware wherever possible. In 2020, the share was 40 percent, and in 2021 it was already over 60 percent. We are thus saving around 42% emissions for IT hardware.
Home Office
We have been supporting home offices and work-life balance for our employees for a long time, and not just since Corona. After all, most of our services can now be performed remotely.
CO2 compensation
We are increasingly switching to rail for business trips. Unavoidable flights are offset via atmosfair.de.
E-mobility
In 2019, we converted our car pool and company vehicles to e-mobility. Employees also receive a subsidy for the Deutschlandticket.
Company bikes
Through JobRad, we offer our employees leasing of company bicycles. Most employees come to work by bicycle.
Cold aisle
enclosures
In Hamburg, we also installed a cold aisle containment (CAC) for the new cloud environment. This saves around 915 kWh per year. All new spaces in BER1, BER3 and HAM1 have received CAC systems in 2022.
Free apertures
In the colocation area, we provide our customers with free panels that can be used for free height units (HE). Valuable energy is saved due to the improved cold air routing.
Regional, ecological purchasing
In 2019, we converted our offices to regional and ecological purchasing ( e.g. by switching to recycled paper, fair-trade organic coffee, offering oat milk or regional drinks). In Hamburg, we installed a water bubbler.
Ecoprofit program 2021
Measurable success
We have already implemented many measures to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of them are measurable, others unfortunately not.
Measure
Savings 2020
Refurbished OCP hardware for new HAMBURG Cloud
Energy: 13.720 kWh
Raw material: 13.720 kWh
Cold aisle containment of the new HAM1 cloud
Energy: 915 kWh
E-fleet
Energy: 890 kWh
CO2e: 510 kg
CO2 compensation
CO2e: 2090 kg
Climate footprint 2021
ScaleUp has prepared its first carbon footprint - including its Scope 3 emissions - for 2021.
Scope 1
Scope 2
Scope 3
Total
The carbon footprint includes emissions associated with the operation of our business (Scope 1), employee transportation (Scope 1 & 3) and our colocation space. The above emissions correspond to Scope 1, -2 and -3 emissions As defined by the Green House Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) with a 10 percent safety margin to account for inaccuracies and minor emitters. For Scope-3 emissions, annual expenditures for upstream electricity (green power), IT hardware, employee electronics, and office supplies were accounted for as cradle-to-gate. Upstream emissions for buildings were excluded from the accounting because most of them were older than 30 years, as well as for building assets over which ScaleUp has no operational control. The data used came from financial data, a mobility evaluation including logbooks, electricity consumption data, and supplier surveys.
Our partners
Sustainable Cloud Hosting
Low Energy Cloud
For its own cloud infrastructure, ScaleUp has been increasingly relying on efficient refurbished Open Compute (OCP) and Rack Scale hardware since the beginning of 2021. The switch is doubly worthwhile, because on the one hand OCP hardware is more powerful and significantly more efficient in operation. Secondly, the use of refurbished hardware saves up to 66% of the CO2e that would be generated by the manufacture of new hardware. In addition, a cold aisle containment system will be installed in Hamburg, which will enable further energy savings potential.
Responsible
Do you have questions about our ESG measures or the climate friendliness of our data centers?
Julia Streit
Head ESG & Marketing
jstreit[at]scaleuptech.com
