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Executive Summary
Prime Data Centers, a global developer of data centers, specializing in AI, hyperscale and wholesale solutions, has a 4+ GW expansion roadmap. Amidst this growth, energy and climate have remained priorities for the company, and Prime sought assistance in operationalizing this.
More specifically, Prime Data Centers partnered with 3Degrees to:
Increase the accuracy of its GHG inventory across all three scopes
Evaluate what future science-aligned target options could look like
Develop a decarbonization roadmap for possible science-aligned pathways
Align stakeholders on near-term decarbonization priorities, as well as what setting and achieving a long-term climate target might look like
Background
Prime Data Centers is a global developer of data centers, specializing in AI, hyperscale and wholesale solutions. The company views sustainability as essential to responsible, long-term growth, and has worked to embed it into its business ethos. With 21 existing locations and a 4+ GW expansion planned across North America and Europe, Prime sought to design a proactive climate strategy that embedded low-carbon priorities across its business.
To effectively build this strategy, Prime wanted to understand what executing a science-aligned trajectory would look like. To do so, Prime partnered with 3Degrees to get a deeper understanding of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, clarity on goal-setting options, and a practical decarbonization roadmap.
Challenges
As a young company, Prime was starting from the ground up with respect to GHG measurement and target-setting. While Prime had made tremendous internal progress on its scope 1 and 2 inventory, the company was looking for an experienced partner that could help refine and validate their work as well as develop its first scope 3 inventory.
Additionally, Prime was eager to understand what it would take to set and achieve a science-aligned target, and how the company should approach formulating a prospective target.
How we helped
3Degrees helped Prime on several fronts:
3Degrees reviewed Prime’s initial scope 1 and 2 GHG inventory and conducted a gap analysis to identify areas for improvement. The 3Degrees team then put together Prime’s first hybrid scope 3 inventory, using a spend-based approach for the initial calculations, while applying supplier-specific data in identified hotspots to help highlight priority decarbonization opportunities.
Working closely with Prime, 3Degrees assessed what setting a science-aligned reduction target across all three scopes would entail. The teams considered both currently active and draft target-setting guidance, reviewed peers’ targets, and modeled Prime’s growth expectations to surface a range of relevant target options.
As a final step, 3Degrees modeled several target options, quantifying the scale and types of decarbonization interventions likely required to achieve each. 3Degrees then built a robust roadmap highlighting the near-, medium-, and long-term actions necessary to move forward on a science-aligned trajectory, in the context of best-available assumptions for how Prime’s inventory may grow and change considering its ambitious expansion plans. The roadmap also pinpointed priority items for immediate attention from the Prime team.
Results
Increased internal confidence and alignment on what low-carbon growth will look like for Prime
Complete GHG inventory across all three scopes, with strong understanding of how Prime will continue to increase accuracy year over year
Decarbonization roadmap outlining a possible science-aligned pathway for Prime
3Degrees presented complex information in a way that was easy for us to understand. When we needed more hand-holding and guidance, they provided deeper dives and more context. 3Degrees has been a wonderful thought partner and has helped us get to an important inflection point in our sustainability journey.”
