Digital Realty Selects IBM Sustainability Software to Transform Data into Insights

Digital Realty Selects IBM Sustainability Software to Transform Data into Insights Across its Global Data Centers and Offices

IBM (NYSE: IBM) recently announced that Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) is using the IBM Envizi ESG Suite to collect, analyze and report on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance across its portfolio of 300+ data centers across 50+ metros across 27 countries on six continents.

According to an IBM Institute for Business Value report ("The ESG data conundrum"), while 95% of organizations surveyed have developed ESG propositions, only 10% say they have made significant progress toward their goals, and 73% cited a struggle to manage an overload of manual data.

Digital Realty is one of the largest global providers of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions for major metros globally including Chicago, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, New York, Northern Virginia, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. With a commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, the company will use IBM Envizi as a centralized hub for collecting, managing, and deriving insights from its ESG data, to track progress, identify areas for improvement, report performance to stakeholders, and accommodate disclosure requirements. The software provides a comprehensive and integrated solution for managing ESG performance, environmental impact, and sustainability goals.

"By leveraging the capabilities of IBM Envizi, we will transform our ability to collect, analyze and report on our ESG performance across our global data center portfolio. It will help track and manage our environmental performance, while enabling us to better meet the sustainability needs of our customers and other stakeholders," says Aaron Binkley, VP Sustainability, Digital Realty.

"Organizations globally are simply buried in a massive amount of ESG-related data—from operations, sensors on factory floors, and more. But it is often siloed across databases, spreadsheets, and business units," says Christina Shim, Vice President, Global Head of Product Management and Strategy, IBM Sustainability Software. "The IBM Envizi ESG Suite helps our clients, like Digital Realty, gain insights from data to fuel smarter, more sustainable decisions every day."

Working with IBM, Digital Realty uses Envizi to help manage and accelerate sustainability initiatives across its portfolio. For example:

• Create a single system of record for ESG data: Envizi enables Digital Realty to streamline the collection of data from a wide range of sources such as utility data, power usage efficiency (PUE), renewable energy certificates, waste data, business travel, purchased goods and services. This makes it easier for Digital Realty to provide consistent data for reporting, analysis and decision making – for example, to support Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emission calculations and to create its annual ESG report.

• Analyze data to inform sustainability decision-making: Digital Realty can apply Envizi's advanced analytics to transform this data into insights on the performance of its portfolio, which helps drive better decisions and address sustainability goals. For example, Envizi could help Digital Realty assess its current portfolio and drive change in its three focus areas: designing and building more sustainable data centers, finding new ways to power them, and driving improvements in how it operates them.

• Streamline ESG and sustainability reporting: Digital Realty is committed to transparent ESG disclosures and reports its performance annually, including progress against its SBTi target to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 68% and Scope 3 emissions by 24% by 2030. Envizi's ESG reporting capabilities is designed to make it easier to streamline these reporting processes, with reporting questions and responses managed within a single software interface.

IBM itself is a user of Envizi for inputting, storing, and managing operational data such as energy and water consumption; planning and tracking energy and water conservation projects; and supporting external reporting and disclosures. IBM is also an important client of Digital Realty, hosting part of its portfolio of global data centers with them. The IBM Global Real Estate team is sharing insights and experience on Envizi with Digital Realty as they advance towards more sustainable operations.

The IBM Envizi ESG Suite is part of IBM's portfolio of sustainability solutions and consulting expertise, including the IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, IBM Turbonomic, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator and IBM LinuxONE, that help organizations set, operationalize, and achieve their ESG goals.