We pollute
Find out how
But we have taken action to reduce our footprint. Since 2007.
Breakdown of our CO2 emissions in 2022
Purchase/manufacture of servers and electronic equipment
Commuting to work
Total electricity consumption
Heating and cooling
Food and drink
Business travel and overnight stays
Waste and recycling
Offsetting our CO2 emissions
In 2022, Infomaniak generated 1155.5 tCO2 eq . To mitigate our environmental impact, we have financed projects in Switzerland and Nicaragua that will absorb 2311 tCO2 eq for a total amount of CHF 121'327.-
We can only improve what we measure meticulously.
The CO2 emissions calculation covers all our activities and the life cycle of the products that we consume. Raw material extraction, production, transport, waste... everything is taken into account, even our employees’ daily commute! These measures are audited every year by SGS through the audit of our ISO 14001:2015 certification.
What pollutes most at Infomaniak? Purchasing new servers!
As we use renewable energy and our data centers are cooled by natural outside air, our servers would have to operate for 7 to 10 years for them to emit the same amount of CO2 as that generated by their production.
We’ve therefore decided to extend the life of our servers to 15 years. That means opting for more expensive servers which can subsequently evolve with more advantageous components.
The performance and reliability of our services are guaranteed by the redundancy of the services and our cloud infrastructure, which allows resources to be allocated on demand.
The challenge ? To find the best compromise between:
- Our growing needs in terms of resources.
- Changing certain server components to enhance their performance and thus extend their service life.
- Disconnect the servers after 15 years of activity for reasons of poor energy efficiency.
When the resources of a server are not used, they are automatically allocated to other tasks, without for all that affecting the performances of the other services. The result is that we can provide more services with fewer servers and an equivalent performance level.
At the same time, our developers are constantly optimising our products to avoid consuming resources unnecessarily and to enhance the performance of our services (what is referred to as eco-design). Energy optimisation is based SOLELY on the equipment!
The travel and purchasing power of our employees also have an impact on our environmental footprint.
A bonus of up to CHF 1'500 / year to encourage our staff to adopt a soft mobility approach.
We make our employees aware of our environmental impact and encourage them to adopt environmentally-friendly behaviour in both their private and professional life.
A mobility plan also promotes more environmentally-friendly transport. This approach reduces our carbon emissions, improves the health of our employees and develops new virtuous habits. It is an investment!
Infomaniak is one of the 500 biggest consumers of energy in the canton of Geneva.
Emails, kDrive, data centers, etc. All our services are powered by local renewable energy
The electricity we buy is 60% hydropower and 40% green energy (solar power and small hydropower plants that preserve natural waterways and allow fish to move freely). A 600 kWp solar power plant was commissioned in 2023, and there are plans to expand this capacity gradually until we produce as much energy as we consume.
In 2021 alone, we would have consumed 31% more electricity without our energy performance measures. That is the equivalent of 300 Swiss households.
We design our own data centers, with no air-conditioning, so that they go beyond the energy efficiency standards of the market.
Our PUE figures are among the best in the world.
To achieve such a low energy efficiency indicator (PUE of 1.06 compared to a European average of 1.8), we only cool our data centers with filtered outside air and constantly adjust the ventilation according to real needs.
On average, our infrastructures consume 6 W for 100 W dedicated to the operations of our servers.
In 2019, our optimisation efforts once again enabled us to reduce our electricity consumption by 14.7%, and we won't stop there.
The Infomaniak data centers are cooled using filtered outside air.
Our energy inverters operate in standby mode. This might not seem much, but it allows us to save 5% energy . Every watt counts.
Our electricity generators serve the community.
We generate 2.7 tCO2 eq / year to test the emergency electricity supply of our infrastructures which use fuel oil. When the local electricity grid encounters a problem, Swissgrid can make use of our generators to secure and stabilise the operations of the Swiss electricity network.
Our operational waste accounts for 0.23% of our CO2 emissions.
Incinerable waste 1.96 tCO2eq
Wastewater 0.43 tCO2eq
Recyclable waste 0.011 tCO2eq
Electronic waste 0.008 tCO2eq
Do we really need that?
How will it be recycled?
Is it local and responsible ?
All purchases are subject to a preliminary analysis which enables us to determine precisely whether an alternative solution to purchasing could be envisaged. We also take account of the subsequent optimisation possibilities for the new equipment in order to extend its utility. We systematically prioritise local and responsible suppliers and we undertake to reduce our production of incinerable waste by 16% by the end of 2023 (compared to the volume of waste produced in 2019). We have weighed our waste since 2015, including in our offices. The next stage will be to reduce the volume of our electronic waste.
We offset our CO2 emissions 200%
This includes the production and disposal of servers as well as the production of the electricity we use and the travel undertaken by our staff.
100% in Switzerland and 100% in Nicaragua. Earth is unique.
Our measures and calculations are not all perfect, trees grow slower than our emissions and we pollute both in Switzerland and abroad.
The choice to ensure 200% offsetting is therefore self-evident, and our participation is adjusted every year according to the quantity of CO2 that we emit.
Who protects the interests of the bees, the trees and the oceans?
1% of our growth is allocated to non-profit organisations which protect the interests of the natural world and aim to make environmental protection legislation more restrictive, in particular within our industry.
Boris Siegenthaler, co-founder, strategic director and environmental officer
Life is about making things that are sustainable, at least for a company.
Without the reduction in our emissions and the constant improvement of our energy efficiency, these mitigation measures are insufficient. We bear in mind the fact that their positive impacts are often subject to a time lag and are not necessarily deployed in the regions where our activities emit CO2. That said, offsetting is something that’s available to all companies. It is a simple first step which fosters awareness and a reduction in emissions.
Alexandre Patti, Compliance Officer (CO)
We cannot save the world by complying with the current rules because the rules need to be changed. Everything must change and this needs to start today.
We already do a great deal, but we won’t stop there.
2023
Installation of a solar power plant with a capacity of 600 kW at the DCIII