Data Centers Play a Pivotal Role in the ESG Agenda; Experts Deliberate at Schneider Electric’s Innovation Summit
Posted on: 22/Oct/2021 11:40:28 AM
Schneider Electric™, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, showcased its latest innovations in designing a more Digital And Electric World for data centers and featured insights from data center visionaries including Equinix, a global leader in digital infrastructure, with over 220 enterprise colocation data centers, at their Digital Innovation Summit, currently underway between October 19th to 21st . During an exclusive Innovation Talk, ‘Data Centers: Sustainability and Resiliency Aren’t Mutually Exclusive,’ experts discussed the changing landscape of energy management and digital transformation, focusing on the intersection of sustainability and resiliency in data centers.
This initiative reaffirmed Schneider Electric and Equinix’s commitment towards empowering a future of promise and potential with digital at its core. The event explored the expanding role of data centers in the increasingly digital society and the onus of creating and deploying future-proof solutions.
The past 18 months has led to an acceleration in the transition to digital. This rise has been supported by the growing number of data centers both locally and globally. The Innovation Talk delved into addressing issues like downtime and outages of data centers, without compromising the need to mitigate their environmental impact. With a shift in mindset and approach to meet the needs of today, as well as of the future, Schneider Electric and its partners are moving towards a holistic environmentally sustainable strategy.
Speaking at the event, Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric said “At Schneider Electric, we believe that electricity is the most efficient source of energy and by bringing innovation to the forefront we are steering ahead towards our vision for a New Electric World. With rising C02 emissions, the production and consumption of energy is the biggest contributor to climate change. By becoming more adaptive, efficient, resilient, and sustainable, we envisage a future where data centers can meet future needs while making a decarbonized ecosystem and partners like Equinix are the ESG leaders. With the help of innovation and our history of transforming the status quo, we’re poised to reinvent how we build and manage data centers.”
Speaking about the event, Sachin Bhalla, Vice President and Country GM, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric India & SAARC shared “The growth and prowess witnessed in the Indian data center market has presented immense potential for enterprises to reap scalable benefits. The conversations that have transpired at the Innovation Summit will present the impetus to recognize, examine, address and overcome environmental challenges and create a blueprint to navigate through the future of sustainable datacenter solutions. We are aligning with the Government of India’s landmark Aatma Nirbhar Bharat vision to bolster conscious, clean and sustainable technology solutions with utmost self-reliance. The solutions of today will forge our future tomorrow a as we envisage and redefine resilience and operational excellence powered by new-age technologies.”
Chris Kimm, Senior Vice President of Americas Operations, Equinix, who joined Pankaj Sharma in this discussion, said: "While Equinix’s consistent pursuit of maintaining resilience in our data centers lies at the core of our operations, as does our commitment to ESG. For years, we have led the industry with energy conservation as a top priority and have designed our data centers with both high operational standards and energy efficiency in mind. Looking ahead, we expect to take a similar approach to our partner Schneider Electric with regards to sustainability. As part of our Future First sustainability strategy, our goal is to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2030 across our global portfolio, with sustained focus on energy efficiency, reducing emissions from onsite diesel generators and refrigerants, and addressing carbon emissions in our supply chain. With investments, innovation, and action, the industry can reimagine data centers that are sustainable and resilient, that positively impact customers, the broader digital ecosystem, and the planet.”
Schneider Electric’s flagship three-day virtual Innovation Summit, is aimed at sparking conversations around the need for integrating sustainability with business. The event with central theme `Digital: The path to sustainability with Aatma Nirbhar Bharat` brought forth industry leaders and policy makers to deliberate and discuss how we can build a sustainable and resilient future for India.
