Environment and Communities
Our Principles
We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment. To this effect, we developed our internal policy in 2019 — signed by our Chief Executive Officer at the start of January 2020 — to best protect the environment, the climate and the communities where we operate.
The policy identifies the five key elements on which we wish to act in our activities:
- To always act responsibly and abide by all applicable environmental laws
- To continue to advance our data collection capabilities to best measure, monitor and continuously reduce our impact
- To commit to improving our power-usage efficiency, increasing the low-carbon content of our energy supply, and reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
- To continue to advance our technology and services to enable our clients to best reduce the impact of their activity
- To encourage and support our businesses and all employees and locations globally to find and take specific actions that support the protection of the environment, the climate and the communities where we operate
As a high-performance computing (HPC) company, Viridien requires a very large data processing capacity and own our own internal servers and facilities. To monitor our data centers’ energy consumption and efficiency, we analyze their power usage effectiveness (PUE) and, as applicable, we engage and implement measures to improve it by deploying technologies such as oil immersion and free-cooling servers. We also strive to meet our electricity needs from sustainable sources.
Our Performance
Our most recent key performance indicators for energy efficiency and carbon footprint are:
| KPIs | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Viridien Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) (a) | 1.42 |
| Carbon Footprint Scope 1 (ktCO2eq) | 2(b) |
| Carbon Footprint Scope 2 (ktCO2eq) | 39(c) |
| Carbon Footprint Scope 3 (ktCO2eq) | 654(d) |
| Low emissions energy mix (% of Scope 2) | 51% |
(a) On the perimeter of our 3 main data centers: US, UK and Singapore. Ratio of total energy consumed to energy actually used by IT equipment.
(b) Excluding cooling Gaz.
(c) Excluding district heating for our Chinese site in Xu Shui.
(d) In 2022, Scope 3 includes for the first time the downstream impact of products sold by the SMO division.
Communities
At Viridien, we respect and promote human rights, maintain mutually beneficial relationships with local communities, and develop local content where practicable. This commitment extends to our suppliers through their engagement to our Suppliers Code of Conduct.
Viridien takes an active role in each of the local communities where we operate. Every year, more than one hundred actions are taken to improve community services, environmental protection, education, and the health and safety of these local communities.
Since 2012, Viridien has partnered with a microfinancing organization to provide assistance to entrepreneurs who would not normally have access to financial services. These small-scale loan programs enable our employees to choose projects that are the most meaningful to them individually. More than one thousand projects worldwide have been supported by this initiative.
