From July 10, 2023 to July 16, 2023, Shanghai held the 2023 Energy Conservation Publicity Week with the theme of "You and I Work Together for Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction". During the opening ceremony and Green Low-Carbon Industry Promotion Conference on July 10, the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Informatization Commission awarded certificates to the city's zero-carbon leaders and founding units. GDS Shanghai #4 (SH4) Data Center was honored with the title of "Zero Carbon Leadership Data Center", becoming the only data center company to receive this recognition.

Awarding ceremony of Shanghai zero-carbon leaders and founding units

With the mission of achieving emission peaking and carbon neutrality, Shanghai has been actively advancing the construction of a green manufacturing system. In recent years, the city has strengthened its efforts to promote green and low-carbon industries, and has launched several innovative zero-carbon demonstration projects. Last year, Shanghai released the first batch of zero-carbon leaders and founding unit lists, which included 12 zero-carbon factories, one zero-carbon data center, and three zero-carbon campus.

As the only data center among the first batch of zero-carbon leaders, GDS SH4 Data Center surpasses the standards of a zero-carbon data center in various aspects, including carbon offset ratio, comprehensive power usage effectiveness (PUE), proportion of renewable energy usage, modular/prefabricated construction, high-efficiency equipment and computing power sharing systems, peak shaving through thermal energy storage, and more. In 2021, GDS SH4 Data Center achieved 100% renewable energy usage, officially becoming a "zero-carbon data center".

Throughout the years, GDS has continuously improved the green and low-carbon attributes of its data centers from both energy input and design operation management perspectives. On the energy side, GDS primarily focuses on green electricity procurement and green certificate offsetting. On the design and operation side, GDS leverages innovative methods to achieve ultimate energy efficiency, enhances energy efficiency through innovative technologies, and adopts intelligent management practices to optimize power usage effectiveness (PUE).

The outstanding achievements in energy conservation and carbon reduction at GDS SH4 Data Center are a testament to GDS's long-standing commitment to green and sustainable development. The company released its 2021 ESG report, which showcased significant progress. The proportion of renewable energy usage increased to 34.3% (compared to 22.6% in 2020), and the carbon emission intensity decreased to 5.60 tCO2e/m2.

GDS will continue to explore and realize the path of green development in alignment with the national Dual Carbon strategy and in active support of Shanghai implementing the "Action Plan for Development of Green and Low-Carbon Industries". GDS aims to make computing infrastructure "greener" and contributing to more sustainable socio-economic development.