01 December 2023

Nxtra by Airtel has introduced its first sustainability report for the financial year 2023, which highlights the company’s performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) parameters, targets, commitments, and the progress it has achieved thus far.

Operating in over 120 locations, Nxtra specialises in designing, constructing, and operating one of India’s most extensive networks of hyperscale, core, and edge data centres (DCs).

Nxtra recently became the first data centre company in India to adopt hydrogen-ready fuel cell technology with low carbon emissions in collaboration with Bloom Energy.

The company has set an ambitious target of achieving Net Zero emissions by 2031. Nxtra is actively exploring various innovative energy solutions to power its data centres and working on ways to create a more sustainable future.

“At Nxtra, our commitment to be sustainable is at the heart of our operations. We have also designed our workplace to be inclusive and safe and have imbibed transparent governance standards and environmental conscientiousness that is endorsed by every employee,” said Nxtra in a statement.

Over the past five years, Nxtra has witnessed a 20% improvement in Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), with a further target to reduce PUE by 10% by 2025. In FY 2022-23, the company saved 109,612 tCO2e emissions by sourcing renewable energy for its data centres. Airtel consumed 156,147MWh of renewable energy in its operations, with a 33% penetration of renewable energy for core data centres. Airtel also reported a 5% reduction in operational emissions across Scope 1 and 2 from the FY21 baseline and maintained a ‘zero’ incident rate and worst potential severity for two consecutive years.

Nxtra by Airtel sourced 98% of its procurement from Indian suppliers. It has also doubled its female workforce, increased the number of women in management by 1.5 times, and achieved a 22% gender diversity at the board level.