NTT Data: Sustainability News, Milestones, IT Services Partnerships and Net Zero Timeline
October 3, 2024 by Joe Panettieri
NTT Data expects to be carbon neutral by 2040. How will the IT service provider and global technology consulting firm reach that long-term goal?
David Costa, chief sustainability business offer for the merged NTT Data-NTT
The timeline below, updated regularly, documents NTT Data's net zero GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions goals. Moreover, we closely track the company's partnerships and green IT services -- which are designed to help end-customers with their net zero goals.
Here's the timeline. Check back regularly for updates.
October 2024
Partnership - Data Center and AI Chips: An NTT data center in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, will become a "Green Nexcenter” that leverages liquid-cooling systems and renewable energy, The Fast Mode reported. The center has also been certified under the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Center program, the report said.
September 2024
Research - Net Zero Challenges: Roughly 95% of companies appear to be falling short of their net-zero carbon goals, an NTT Corp. survey found. Companies behind schedule cite several causes, including rising data usage, the growing resource demand of artificial intelligence, balancing net-zero goals with business goals, and overlooking shocks like geopolitical disruptions, NTT said. Global research firm ThoughtLab Group assisted NTT with the study. NTT is a global IT services provider.
August 2024
1Honorees:SustainableIT.org, a CIO-led nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing global sustainability through technology leadership, announced the honorees of the 2024 SustainableIT Impact Awards. The awards recognize "outstanding contributions to technology-driven sustainability across Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) categories," the organization said. Honorees from the technology and IT services sectors included Cisco Systems, Cognizant, NTT Data Group and Rackspace, among others.
Partnership - R&D: NTT Corporation and biotechnology firm Euglena have unlocked a new technique for breeding algae. The joint effort could "solve various issues related to climate change by improving the amount of CO2 absorbed by algae and by breeding and producing algae that are useful for various purposes," the two companies said. NTT, known for its global IT services, is working on multiple fronts to address sustainability and carbon reduction opportunities worldwide. Key moves include launching NTT Green & Food Corporation in 2023.
June 2024
IT Services, AI and Energy Efficiency: NTT Data has launched Tsuzumi -- a large language model (LLM) that is designed to ease the "environmental and financial challenges typically associated with LLMs," the company said. Tsuzumi runs on Microsoft Azure AI Models as a Service (MaaS). Tsuzumi surfaces at a key time. Critics worry that AI workloads will cause cloud and data center energy consumption to skyrocket. Optimizing LLMs for energy efficiency is one way to potentially offset some of those concerns, proponents say. Still, NTT Data did not say how much energy Tsuzumi can save compared to rival LLMs.
April 2024
Sustainable Device as a Service (DaaS):The company launched a Sustainable Device as a Service to help customers reduce PC-related carbon emissions. The effort, which leverages HP Managed Device Services, "can be a significant contributor in driving down carbon emissions by up to 35% and provide up to 15% cost savings when it comes to TCO of laptops," NTT Data said.
Three Focus Areas: The IT services company launched a new corporate sustainability strategy focused on three pillars -- prosperity, planet and people positive.
Targets Approved: NTT DATA Group has obtained approval for its Net-Zero targets from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
March 2024
Multiple updates...
Data Center Expansion: The company's Global Data Centers division will develop and operate a third data center campus in Berlin. This addition is part of NTT DATA’s global expansion efforts to "meet a growing demand for data usage and computation, with over $10 billion in data center growth projected for fiscal years 2023-27 across key markets around the globe," the company said.
Data Centers - Power Purchase Agreement (PPA): NTT has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with TEPCO Energy Partner and Promedia. The deal allows NTT to power its Mitaka Data Center EAST with solar energy.
February 2024
Multiple updates...
Partnership - Edge Applications: NTT DATA and Schneider Electric have partnered to integrate Edge, Private 5G, IOT, and Modular Data Centers. The effort supports Generative AI applications deployed at the edge, the two firms said.
Investment - Data Centers: TC Global Investments Americas LLC, a group company of Tokyo Century, is investing in NTT Global Data Centers Americas' Chicago data center campus. The campus will consist of three data centers and deliver a total of 104MW critical IT capacity, the companies said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Data Center - Paris: NTT Ltd.'s Global Data Centers division will develop and operate its first data center campus in the Paris market, the company said. The move is part of the company’s $10 billion-plus investment in data center growth for fiscal years 2023-27, while driving towards achieving NTT’s net-zero emissions target for its own operations -- including sourcing 100% renewable energy by 2030, the company said. NTT Ltd. part of NT Data, is an infrastructure and services company serving 65% of the Fortune Global 500 and over 75% of the Fortune Global 100.
January 2024
Multiple updates...
Partnership - Environmental Monitoring:NTT and ClimateForce are partnering to "create the world’s first Smart Rainforest using NTT’s Smart Management Platform technology," the organizations said. The effort aims to "regenerate a section of Australia's Daintree Rainforest and establish sustainable and cost-effective models for environmental restoration efforts around the world," the firms added.
Talent: BIP has hired NTT Data veteran Roei Haberman to succeed Chris Laslett as UK CEO. Laslett shifts to chairman. BIP, a multinational consultancy with 5,000 employees worldwide, offers management consulting, digital transformation and sustainability services.
The company launched the NTT Green & Food Corporation, a company using artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and other information communications technology (ICT) to "develop more efficient and sustainable food production systems."
The company partnered with NEC and NEC Platforms on multiple fronts to promote the decarbonation of society. The effort reinforces how some IT companies and energy companies are connecting the dots between information technology and sustainability.
January 2023: NTT Data-Microsoft Sustainability Partnersship
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