Press Release: Bulk becomes Latest Member of the SDIA

SDIA welcomes Bulk Data Centers as its latest member

Hamburg & Oslo, 22 April 2021 – Bulk Infrastructure, the Nordic’s leading provider of ultra- scalable, highly connected, sustainable data centers, has officially joined the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance (SDIA), whose mission is to move the global digital sector toward zero emissions.

Decarbonizing the global digital economy

Founded in 2019, the SDIA is a non-profit entity that uniquely gathers all actors of the digital ecosystem –from energy and resource suppliers and data center operators, to fiber-optic network providers and software designers – with a mission to decarbonize the global digital economy.

While drawing attention to the growth of the global digital infrastructure sector, whose carbon emissions rival that of the aviation industry, SDIA seeks to drive collaboration across the value chain to promote a sustainable digital economy from an environmental, economic, and social perspective.

The commitment of Bulk Data Centers to the Alliance and the Roadmap to Sustainable Digital Infrastructure by 2030 is supporting greater intra-industry collaboration toward an ecologically and economically sustainable digital world. The Nordics offer affordable surplus renewable energy, making the region attractive for enterprises, hyperscalers, and research organizations looking to expand digital capacity while reducing their carbon footprint.

“We welcome Bulk Data Centers to the Alliance and the commitment to our Roadmap,” said Max Schulze, SDIA’s Executive Chairman. “With green-powered data center locations, Bulk Data Centers takes the sustainability and business value of the Nordic data center market to the next level by serving as an ideal partner for high density, secure, and reliable data processing needs.”

Improving environmental performance

“Joining the Alliance’s broad network of member organizations, partners, and expert advisors is a natural fit for Bulk,” said Rob Elder, Vice President of Data Centers for Bulk. “We look forward to working closely across the full digital stack to support and extend the sustainability agenda to include direct connections to renewable energy.”

“Data centers are widely reported to account for 2-5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” Elder stressed, adding: “Overall, the market is projected to grow by 12-16 percent CAGR [Cumulative Annual Growth Rate] – even as hyperscale facilities are becoming more common with power capacities over 50 megawatts, and growth in high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications are driving power densities higher. Conventional sustainability efforts rely on offsets through unrelated renewable energy purchases and energy efficiency measures. These are helping to flatten growth in global carbon emissions, but we believe we can do better. We need to expand efforts to tap directly into the world’s surplus renewable energy sources – in the Nordics, for example – to support rapidly expanding workloads across a variety of sectors.”

Action and collaboration

Schulze and Elder share a common vision when it comes to sustainability and digital infrastructure, jointly affirming: “The SDIA Roadmap, its activities, actions and collaboration will make a big difference in increasing sustainability and reducing the burden on the planet. The digital economy is transforming modern life in so many different ways. It is important that this industry takes a leadership role that is focused on measurable impacts over rhetoric. Bulk supports and looks forward to working with SDIA and its members toward realizing a Roadmap that is both measurable and impactful. Working together in this committed way, we are excited to make real progress on this common goal toward actual, achievable outcomes.”

Innovation Lab

Recently, the SDIA merged with Green IT Amsterdam to establish an SDIA Innovation Lab in Amsterdam, which is focused on research and innovation projects seeking to develop and implement new and existing technologies that lower the environmental impact of digital infrastructure in the Netherlands and beyond.

About the SDIA

The Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance represents the interests of 57 member organizations who are committed to the SDIA’s Roadmap and building a sustainable digital economy. The Alliance was established as an independent association, assembling stakeholders working across the digital sector. Every member has committed to executing the Roadmap to Sustainable Digital Infrastructure by 2030, with the aim to enable an environmentally-positive, fair, accessible and economically sustainable digital sector.

About Bulk Data Centers

Bulk Data Centers (Bulk) delivers ultra-flexible, highly connected, and massively scalable data center and colocation solutions backed by personalized service excellence. As a trusted advisor offering strategically located data centers in Norway and Denmark, Bulk enables customers to reduce costs and environmental impact. Bulk leads the industry in resilience, cost efficiency, scalability, and sustainability with solutions that deliver long-term growth potential with the lowest total cost of ownership. From colocation to powered land, Bulk supports business-critical solutions with unsurpassed standards, power, and connectivity. To learn how Bulk Data Centers can solve your complex data and communications logistics challenges, visit bulkinfrastructure.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Bulk Data Centers is a division of Bulk Infrastructure, a leading provider of sustainable digital infrastructure in the Nordics. Bulk Infrastructure is an industrial investor, developer, and operator of industrial real estate, data centers, and dark fiber networks.