Volkswagen targets to achieve carbon-neutrality in its data centers by 2027

MANILA: Volkswagen AG aims to achieve net carbon neutrality in its data center operations by 2027. To accomplish this, the group has increased its computing capacities at Green Mountain, a Norwegian company that runs CO2-free data centers. With this expansion, 25% of Volkswagen's global data center operations will run carbon-neutrally. This translates to 10,000 tons less CO2 emitted annually.

Volkswagen AG announced this ambitious goal as part of the acceleration of its decarbonization strategy.  This would be three years earlier than the European Green Deal's 2030 target.

“Green IT is a key topic on our ESG agenda. While technology is the key driver for more efficiency, an improved customer experience, and new business models, IT accounts for about 3% of global CO2 emissions. Given the rising demand for computing power and data storage to enable Volkswagen Group’s New Auto strategy, a sustainable IT roadmap with ambitious goals is paramount to systematically reduce our carbon footprint. With data centres being the biggest contributor of carbon emissions in IT, expanding our computing capacity at Green Mountain is a strong lever to make our data centre operations carbon-neutral by 2027,” Volkswagen AG Board of Management for IT and Digitalization Member Hauke Stars stated.

Volkswagen Group began its data center operations at Green Mountain's RJU1-Rjukan site in Telemark, Norway in June 2019. The intention was to outsource high-performance, non-time-critical projects like crash-test simulations in order to make room in the Volkswagen Group's headquarters data centers for major business applications. Volkswagen Group has six data centers globally, three of which are in Germany, two of which are in Norway, and one of which is in Singapore.

All servers at Green Mountain are naturally cooled by the nearby fjord and operate on 100% renewable electricity produced by hydropower. The renewable power utilized to run Volkswagen's data center at Green Mountain would be enough to supply green electricity to 500 households for a year.

“We appreciate the renewed trust Volkswagen has placed in us and are pleased to support them on their journey towards full carbon-neutrality. Together, we share the same vision of a more sustainable future,” Green Mountain Chief Executive Officer Tor Kristian Gyland stated.

Green Mountain transformed a former high-security NATO ammunition storage facility into an unique 22,600-square-meter high-security mountain hall colocation data center. Volkswagen uses 3MW of the infrastructure's capacity, which has been designed to be expanded up to 2 x 26MW. SVG1-Rennesy has a constant water temperature of 8 degrees Celsius all year round for the cooling, which in traditional data centers accounts for roughly 40% to 80% of the electricity needed to run the servers.

In Norway, renewable energy sources account for 98.9% of electricity production, with the majority produced from hydropower. The Norwegian government actively promotes the use of energy from renewable sources for new industrial sectors, such as climate-neutral data centers. Norway is a great site for green IT because of tax benefits, affordable energy, and stable political conditions.

Photos from Volkswagen

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