Digital Realty scoops Green Lease Leaders award

The United States Department of Energy's Better Buildings Alliance and the Institute for Market Transformation have both recognized Digital Realty as a 2020 Green Lease Leader.

Digital Realty provides data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. Its portfolio of 275 data centers around the world have helped the company to achieve Gold recognition for its green lease provisions.

This year's Green Lease Leaders represent portfolios totalling more than one billion square feet and comprise a diverse range of buildings from large and small commercial offices to industrial buildings to data centers.

Between them, Green Lease Leaders manage nearly three billion square feet of commercial and government space across North America, representing a huge potential for growth in green leases.

The Institute for Market TransformationI (IMT) estimates that green leases can help reduce utility bills by up to about 50 cents per square foot in U.S. office buildings alone, and if all leased office buildings executed green leases, the market could reap over $3 billion in annual cost savings.

According to Digital Realty, it launched green leasing initiatives in 2017 as part of its long-term sustainability goals to build a greener future. Since 2017, the company has seen  a 78% adoption rate among eligible new customer leases.

Furthermore, leases encompassing an additional 3.9 million square feet have a standalone energy efficiency capital expense cost-recovery clause.

"We recognize the important responsibility we have to provide our customers with best-in-class energy efficient and sustainable solutions," says Digital Realty's chief executive officer A. William Stein.

"We… incorporate green lease provisions across our portfolio and we are committed to continuing our efforts to enact environmental, social and governance initiatives that create a positive impact for our partners, customers and employees."

Digital Realty also recently announced it has joined the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), a group of more than 860 global companies committed to setting carbon emission reduction targets backed by climate science.

Digital Realty expects to partner with SBTi to develop specific targets by year-end.

Earlier this year, Digital Realty also received the 2020 Energy Star Partner of the Year Award. The award recognises the company for its efforts to protect the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements across its data center portfolio.

This is the second consecutive year Digital Realty earned the most EPA ENERGY STAR certifications among all United States data center providers.

"I salute the 2020 ENERGY STAR award winners," says EPA principal deputy assistant and administrator for air and radiation, Anne Idsal.

"These leaders demonstrate how energy efficiency drives economic competitiveness in tandem with environmental protection."