Amazon pledges to “return more water than we use” to data centers by 2030

“Our commitment by 2030 is to return more water to the community than we use in our data centers.” This is the promise that the general director of Amazon Web Services , Suzana Curic, has made to minimize the impact that the technology giant ‘s projects will have on the natural resources of Aragon . Not in vain, each center of these characteristics plans to consume 36,461 cubic meters per year, which could increase given the expansion of the facilities announced this Wednesday.

In fact, Amazon Web Services has watershed restoration projects underway in those areas where data centers are located . The company has worked with FIDO Tech, a cloud-based water leak detection company that leverages AWS services to identify and reduce leaks in the water system in the town of Villanueva de Gállego . To this end, in November 2022, acoustic sensors were installed in 45 kilometers of the town’s water network to identify the location and size of the leaks.

On the other hand, in collaboration with Mediodes , an environmental group dedicated since 2000 to the protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystems and solutions for nature, a second project will take advantage of drainage water from crop fields near the operations. from Amazon Web Services in Aragon for the irrigation of a poplar forest downstream, which will act as a natural filter absorbing nutrients from the water and preventing them from reaching the river.

With this, Amazon Web Services emphasizes that its commitment to Aragon is accompanied by a “solid commitment ” to “this very welcoming land ” where “we grow with enthusiasm .” “A future where innovation and progress will go hand in hand with sustainability. “Innovation is only such if it makes a better future for everyone, for Aragon , Spain, Europe and the entire world ,” said Curic, who, during his speech at the Water Tower, won over the attendees by highlighting the values of a land “to which we came of our own .”

SUSTAINABILITY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

In this sense, and as part of Amazon ‘s global climate commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions in all its operations by 2040 , AWS data centers in Aragon have been offsetting the electricity used with 100% renewable energy since its inception. opening in 2022. This same Tuesday, it announced 12 new off-site renewable energy projects in Spain, with a combined capacity of 596 MW, reaching a total of 2.9GW in 79 facilities, five of them in Aragon