Nxtra by Airtel, one of the largest data center companies in India, has joined the global RE100, a global corporate renewable energy initiative. Led by Climate Group, RE100 aims to accelerate change towards zero carbon grids at scale. It was established in partnership with Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
Nxtra by Airtel has a footprint of 12 large and 120 edge data centres across India. In a post on LinkedIn, the company said that this initiative indicates its commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2031, and that it was integrating renewable energy and sustainable practices across their data centers, accelerating the shift to zero-carbon grids and implementing practices to reduce their carbon footprint.
“We are an environmentally responsible brand and have been increasingly adopting clean energy alternatives. We are on a healthy trajectory towards achieving our net-zero goals of 2031 and are happy to become a part of the RE100 initiative with a commitment to 100% renewable electricity,” said Ashish Arora, CEO — Nxtra by Airtel.
“Despite being highly energy intensive, data centres are overlooked for their emissions. It is inspiring to see Nxtra taking the lead in adopting best practices to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Atul Mudaliar, Director of Systems Change – India at Climate Group.
Nxtra said it has contracted 422,000MWh of renewable energy to date. In FY 2023-24, the data centre company said it saved nearly 156,595 tCO2e emissions by sourcing renewable energy through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and captive solar rooftop plants.
“With this, Nxtra becomes the only data centre organisation in India to have underscoring its commitment to environmental sustainability and its aim of becoming net-zero by 2031,” the data centre operator said in a statement.