Sustainability | Exoscale

Reducing our Carbon Footprint

Our serious commitment to environmental sustainability and carbon footprint reduction is demonstrated by the many initiatives featured on this page.
We have been taking part of A1 group yearly ESG report since 2021, and are tracking our energy use, waste and travel impacts. However, we believe that sustainability is not just a matter of corporate responsibility, but a critical aspect of our business strategy. While we are proud of the progress we have made so far, we recognize that there is always room for improvement and have made several strong commitments for the near future.

100% Renewable Energy by 2025

Our facilities in Germany and Switzerland are powered by 100% renewable energy. All green energy certificates are available in our compliance center. In Austria, we source 99% of our energy from renewable sources. Our data center in Bulgaria is currently sourcing 45% of its energy from renewable sources. We are committed to be sourcing 100% of our energy from renewable sources by 2025.

Datacenter	Certified Green Energy	Low Carbon National Electricity Grid*
AT-VIE1	Certificate available in 2023	249gCO₂eq/kWh
AT-VIE2**	Certificate available in 2023	249gCO₂eq/kWh
DE-FRA1	Certificate available 100% Renewable
DE-MUC1	Certificate available 100% Renewable
CH-DK2	Certificate available 100% Hydro	153gCO₂eq/kWh
CH-GV2	Certificate available 100% Hydro	153gCO₂eq/kWh

* Carbon intensity over the last 5 years (Source: electricitymaps.com)
** opening Q2/2023

Certified Energy Management

Exoscale is in the process of implementing an ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS). This international standard provides a framework for managing energy in an organization and is designed to help organizations improve their energy efficiency, reduce their energy costs, and minimize their impact on the environment. Our goal is to complete an audit against this standard by 2024.

Multicriteria Life Cycle Assessment

Exoscale is committed to conducting a comprehensive life cycle assessment of our products and services, in accordance with ISO 14040. This analysis will provide a comprehensive understanding of the environmental impact of our products and services throughout their entire life cycle, from raw materials to disposal. Our aim is to complete this analysis by the end of 2023.

Impact Calculator for Our Clients

Exoscale is committed to providing our clients with the tools and information they need to make informed decisions about the sustainability of their cloud services. To this end, we are developing an impact calculator that will allow our clients to quantify the environmental impact of their cloud services and make informed GreenOps decisions about their sustainability. Our goal is to launch this calculator by 2024.

Sustainability Measures

Several measures have already been implemented at Exoscale to ensure a more sustainable usage of servers and energy.

Renewable Energy

Currently, 90% of our electricity comes from renewable energy sources. This is a significant accomplishment and demonstrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and sourcing energy from environmentally responsible sources.
Extended Server Fleet Life

The average age of our server fleet is 3 years and more. A program is in place to repurpose older servers for non customer-facing workloads to keep them in use as long as they are useful.
High Density Rack Design

By packing more servers and other equipment into high density racks, Exoscale reduces its overall data center footprint and the associated costs of building and maintaining a larger facility. Smaller datacenters require less energy to power and cool.
Energy-Efficient Design

Our servers are designed internally from carefully selected components, with wattage being a key metric in the selection. Our custom storage node chassis has been internally designed with energy efficiency in mind, with a focus on reducing energy requirements and operating costs.
Refurbished Equipment

We make frequent use of refurbished equipment and while our new servers are always using the newest generation of hardware to ensure the best performance per watt, many of our supporting equipment, such as most of our networking equipment, is refurbished.
Direct Shipping

We ship our servers directly from the distributor to our datacenters, avoiding the unnecessary transport of equipment and reducing our carbon footprint.

How we live Sustainability within the Company

From a remote-first work arrangement to innovative waste heat utilization in our lab datacenter, Exoscale prioritizes carbon footprint reduction at each opportunity.

Remote-first approach

Exoscale is a largely distributed company, and we believe in a remote-first approach to work. This helps reducing the impact associated with maintaining a traditional office space, such as energy consumption, waste production, and commuting emissions.
Waste heat utilization

Always looking for new and innovative ways to minimize our environmental impact, we have started using the waste heat generated by our lab infrastructure to heat our Lausanne office space in the winter months.
Personal commitment

We encourage our employees to make a personal commitment to reducing their impact on the environment. Many of our employees have been increasingly relying on trains to travel to our meetings, which helps to reduce emissions associated with air travel. In addition, a high rate of our employees use public transportation, biking and electric vehicles to commute to work, further reducing their environmental impact.
Leading sustainability

The combination of remote work and environmental awareness is just one of the many ways that Exoscale is leading the way in sustainable business practices. Our commitment to sustainability is a core part of our company culture, and it drives everything we do, from the technology we use to the way we work.

Data Center Sustainability

At Exoscale, we understand that the physical infrastructure of our data centers plays a critical role in the sustainability of our cloud computing services. That’s why we carefully select our datacenters based on a number of factors, including energy efficiency. We work with only the most environmentally responsible and forward-thinking providers to ensure that our operations are as sustainable as possible. Our stringent requirements for energy efficiency include the use of renewable energy sources, highly efficient cooling systems, and best-in-class power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratings. By choosing Exoscale, you can be confident that your cloud computing needs are being met in a way that is both reliable and sustainable.

Equinix

Our Swiss and German zones are hosted at Equinix state-of-the art data centers. Equinix offers the highest level of security, reliability and energy efficiency in their data centers and is planning to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.

Learn more

A1 Group

A1 Group aim at reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 by gradually switching to renewable energy sources and investing in energy efficiency. The long-term aim is to increase energy efficiency by 80 % compared with 2019.

Learn more

Contact our Sustainability Team

Want to learn more about our sustainability initiatives? Contact our Sustainability Team and let us know your questions.

Operating in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Reducing our Carbon Footprint

100% Renewable Energy by 2025

Certified Energy Management

Multicriteria Life Cycle Assessment

Impact Calculator for Our Clients

Sustainability Measures

Renewable Energy

Extended Server Fleet Life

High Density Rack Design

Energy-Efficient Design

Refurbished Equipment

Direct Shipping

How we live Sustainability within the Company

Remote-first approach

Waste heat utilization

Personal commitment

Leading sustainability

Data Center Sustainability

Equinix

A1 Group

Contact our Sustainability Team