An Iron-Clad Commitment to Climate Action
Iron Mountain, the global leader for storage and information services, takes a series of bold steps toward its renewable energy and carbon reduction goals
Data. Documents. Planet? You bet.
Iron Mountain has a passion for protecting what its global customers value most.
And, in that spirit, the company recently announced the signing of a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) for 145 megawatts of new wind energy from the Pretty Prairie Wind Farm, located in Reno County, Kansas. With this agreement and other recent green power purchases, Iron Mountain expects that renewable resources will cover 75 percent of the electricity it uses in 2018, moving the company closer to its RE100 pledge of 100 percent renewable power by 2050.
Iron Mountain worked with Schneider Electric Energy & Sustainability Services to identify and evaluate projects and arrange the deal.
“Renewable energy has become a key strategic component in how we manage electricity usage throughout our global real estate portfolio,” said Kevin Hagen, vice president of Environmental Social and Governance Strategy at Iron Mountain. “When you consider the sheer amount of electricity required to power our entire operational portfolio, it’s truly remarkable to hit these milestones in a ‘business-positive’ manner that reduces utility expenses, stabilizes rates and reduces the business risks associated with fossil fuels.”
Following the execution of its first North American PPA in 2016, Iron Mountain partnered with Schneider Electric to expand its focus on renewables to achieve its corporate social responsibility commitments. The companies have worked together on additional PPAs in the U.S. since then. And they collaborated to negotiate contracts with energy suppliers in Europe for wind and other renewable resources, making Iron Mountain’s operations in the U.K., Ireland and Benelux the first to hit their all-green-power goals.
The latest PPA further demonstrates the ability to use business as a solution to climate challenges; of note, the 75 percent renewable mark includes the entirety of Iron Mountain's data center operations.
NextEra Energy Resources will build, own and operate the Pretty Prairie project, with Iron Mountain purchasing a portion of the electricity it generates. When completed, Iron Mountain’s portion of the project will generate enough clean, renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 56,000 U.S. homes and will reduce fossil fuel emissions equivalent to removing more than 101,000 cars from the road annually.
The project is also expected to create more than 250 jobs during construction, between 15-20 full-time jobs overall, and millions of dollars in additional landowner payments and tax revenue to the local community.
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