The Crucial Role of Data in Sustainability

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and data plays a crucial role in mitigating its impact. As a data-driven individual who is passionate about the environment, I am encouraged by the potential of using data to more effectively understand and address climate change.

I’m proud that the release of our new environmental management system has publically reaffirmed our goals for 2030: working toward 100% renewable energy and net-zero emissions across Scope 1 and Scope 2, and strengthening our commitment to build efficiency across Akamai Connected Cloud. 

This is a significant step in incorporating cloud computing, along with our security and content delivery services, into our sustainability goals. This reaffirmation was only possible because the data provided proof that our goals would be achievable by 2030.

Data is essential for informed decisions 

As a company, we are enabling the world to build applications anywhere — and run them securely everywhere. Everything we do at Akamai revolves around data — whether we’re building applications, moving data around the globe, analyzing data for threats, protecting customers against data breaches, or delivering data for the world's most popular events. 

Data is essential to provide the valuable insights and information that helps inform decision-making and make progress as a society. Whether the focus is climate change, science, business, politics, economics, or any other area of our lives, data is crucial to our continued success and global development.

Handling data responsibly

As I reflect on Akamai’s progress toward global environmental advancement, it's evident that data continues to play an integral role in driving our efforts forward. Fortunately, we have the direction, insight, and services that enable us to store, analyze, deliver, and use the vast amounts of data we accumulate. 

The constant pursuit of improvement propels us forward to ensure our actions have a broader impact on our sustainability aspirations. It is essential to handle the data that we mine correctly and responsibly to ensure we make informed decisions for the future. By being good stewards, we can use our data to help mitigate climate change effectively. Without that approach, our pursuit of an environmentally friendly future will fail.

Gaining valuable insights via data collection

Data also plays a vital role in accurately identifying sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Like most companies working toward net-zero emissions, our climate data gets collected from various sources, such as our deployment footprint, data center providers, value chain, and other areas of our operations. We use devices such as power meters, sensors, direct data capture from our hardware, and other relevant collection points to gather data from those sources. 

Through this array, we gain valuable insights into the patterns and trends of electricity use and emissions output, which can help us design targeted interventions to reduce our environmental footprint. However, for us to successfully reduce our impacts and affect climate change, accuracy and transparency in data — such as those data points from our data centers — are critical. We must use a thoughtful approach to ensure we can achieve our goals.

Introducing Akamai’s sustainability microsite

At Akamai, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our data sources to ensure that we take a best-in-class approach to our work in climate change. As someone who has spent a lot of time with the numbers, I realize not all data will be as robust as our own; for instance, some may choose to take more convenient paths, while others will work hard to challenge industry norms. 

To continue our commitment to building a practical and well-rounded approach to tackling climate change and to drive more transparency and accountability around our efforts, I'm proud to introduce Akamai’s newly developed microsite, focused specifically on our sustainability efforts as a business. We have spent many months developing this work to demonstrate what we have done, what we are doing, and how we hope to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

Transparency, accountability, and collaboration

After reflecting on all the data we collected, the customers we talked to, and the meetings and events we attended, one thing is certain: Transparency in our data is crucial to achieve a broader societal impact. Akamai holds itself accountable and demonstrates its continued commitment to mitigating climate change by sharing the information on our sustainability efforts and progress. 

Transparency has also allowed for greater collaboration and partnership opportunities with organizations such as the ZEROgrid initiative, Emissions First Partnership, or the Clean Energy Buyers Association, and with other companies working toward the common goal of an emissions-free future. 

Helping to address the challenges of climate change

Data has the potential to help us address one of the most significant challenges of our time: climate change. The insights that we can derive from data can be instrumental in solving complex problems by designing practical, cost-effective solutions. 

I am excited about the possibilities that Akamai’s data continues to present, and I look forward to leveraging our insights to make good on our commitment to make life better for billions of people, trillions of times a day.

To catch up on our latest progress, check out the Akamai 2023 Sustainability Report.