AirTrunk Pledges Full ESG Commitment Through $3.37B in Sustainable Financing

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Tall building sunny blue sky with shote clouds. AirTrunk (Credit: AirTrunk)

AirTrunk, a leading hyperscale data center specialist in the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, has announced that it committed to ESG targets by linking 100% of its debt funding platforms. After raising $3.37 billion in sustainable financing, it has become one of the largest issuers of sustainable financing in the data center industry worldwide. AirTrunk TOK1 (TOK1) has obtained financing through a $438 million Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) in Japan.

Deutsche BankCredit Agricole CIB, and MUFG Bank acted as joint sustainability structuring agents on the TOK1 SLL.

AirTrunk plans to invest margin incentives from the Japan SLL into social impact initiatives in Japan in four areas: Equal Digital Access, STEM Education, Biodiversity and Conservation, and Innovation and Research & Development. By expanding the program across APJ to support long-term initiatives aligned with scaling and sustaining the region's digital future.

AirTrunk Data Centers in Japan

Data center companies create hyperscale facilities to support thousands of physical servers that host millions of virtual machines. These facilities provide robust, scalable applications and services to both individual consumers and businesses. With the increasing demand for cloud and Big Data storage, the market for hyperscale computing is set to experience robust growth.

The centers require a lot of energy to operate, including electricity for servers, cooling systems, and other equipment. This energy is often generated by fossil fuels, like coal and natural gas. These fuels contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, resulting in a larger environmental footprint for data centers that use more energy.

In addition, data centers require a substantial amount of water to cool their servers and other equipment, with some large centers consuming up to 4.5 million gallons per day. Nevertheless, many regions face water scarcity, and the utilization of water can lead to adverse environmental and social consequences.

Quotes from Key Stakeholders

From Chief Financial Officer at AirTrunk, Prashant Murthy, “By driving innovation in sustainable financing and creating a lasting impact in our communities, we are committed to powering positive industry change.”

“We are proud to be working with AirTrunk again to execute their first Sustainability-Linked Loan for a data center in Japan. This SLL is our second collaboration with AirTrunk following the green loan executed in September 2022, and we are delighted to contribute to establishing a new sustainable financing benchmark for the data center industry in Japan.” -MUFG Bank, Ltd. Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Business Division, Daisuke Nishiyama.

The company has expanded its flagship data center, TOK1, situated in Inzai, Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, in alignment with the rising demand for hyperscale digital infrastructure in Japan. To cater to the needs of a significant new technology customer, they are constructing a new 55MW building as part of the larger 300+MW campus.

Per Market Intelligence, the Hyperscale Data Center Market expects to register a CAGR of approximately 5.69% between 2023 and 2028.

Environment + Energy Leader