We are proud to share that our Dutch offices have been awarded the ISO 14001 Certification, demonstrating our commitment to sustainability.
It may be hard to believe, but the cloud has now overtaken the airline industry with regards to its carbon footprint. Leaseweb takes its shared responsibility in combating climate change and is committed to protecting the environment. Our goal is to provide environmentally friendly, high quality and sustainable services in partnership with suppliers, employees and customers. Achieving the ISO 14001-2015 is a significant step towards executing our Sustainability Goals.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the core team involved in bringing this project to fruition, including Nicolien Rengers from Facilities, Luis Carrasco from Security, Niels Davids from Procurement, David Sansone from Finance, and the Green Team at large.
To meet the ISO 14001 requirements, Leaseweb has established, implemented, and maintained a comprehensive and systematic process for identifying, evaluating, and continuously improving the environmental aspects related to its data center operations, products, and services. This proactive approach aims to minimize environmental impact, reduce our CO2 footprint and promote sustainable growth within the data center industry.
Supplier Selection Criteria
Most of our impact on the environment comes from the energy consumption of our computing platform, consisting of servers and network equipment located in third party data centers. We do not build our hardware equipment nor part of our software and data centers, but rather we select them from suppliers that meet our strict environmental – goals and are aligned with our environmental policy.
Efficient Energy Expenditure
We use clean energy sources where possible, such as using 100% windmill energy to power our Dutch office operations. We also installed energy-efficient lighting and movement sensors and limit the air conditioning in summer. Employees work hybrid to reduce CO2 emissions from commuting, but employees are also encouraged to use public transport or to bike to work. The Leaseweb fleet of cars has also been replaced by electric cars.
Water Conservation
At our HQ, many small but meaningful steps are taken to reduce water consumption, such as only turning on dishwashers when they are full. Only non-toxic cleaning products that are biodegradable are used in the kitchens and bathrooms.
Waste Reduction
Recycling bins are positioned all over the HQ building for paper, plastic, glass, and organic waste. Leaseweb encourages paperless communication, but if printing is necessary, we only use recycled paper. Employees are encouraged to use reusable water bottles and coffee mugs, and we have started bulk ordering for the cantine rather than single-use plastic products SUPs. In general, we look for suppliers that already use recycled materials and package supplies in bulk.
Next Steps
Leaseweb has already begun work on achieving ISO 14001-2015 for our other entities globally. Next, we are obligated to achieve CSRD which is an EU sustainability requirement for large companies. All global entities of Leaseweb are required to report on the impact of corporate activities on the environment and society. Achieving ISO 14001 is a great basis for this directive which we are implementing over the next two quarters. Implementing automated measurement tools to calculate the CO2 footprint of individual Leaseweb customers is another step we are working on, since this is currently done manually. As we move towards increased sustainability, we look forward to achieving these next steps.
Learn more in our press release.