NetApp releases its 2023 ESG report

Environmental, Social, and Governance, or ESG, is everywhere—being both challenged and touted as companies and decision makers target various measures of sustainability, trust and inclusivity. While many companies downplayed or discarded their efforts, and others engaged in greenwashing, at NetApp, we remained true to our values and to our commitment to sustainability. In 2023, NetApp’s continued commitment, innovation and ESG evolution helped our customers, partners, shareholders, and employees achieve success.

Now in our fourth year publishing our annual ESG report, our integrated ESG strategy is driven by data and built on this foundational belief: Technology can influence positive change. Technology propels our development of cutting-edge products and solutions for our customers. It enables us to advance our company goals and progress on our ESG journey. And as we further align to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, we know that technology is vital to creating a more sustainable, inclusive, and connected world.

Sustainability in the data center continues to be one of the most complex challenges our customers face, and NetApp continues to rise to this challenge. Data grows extremely quickly, and the demand for its retention and broader use increases—and keeping this data available can increase energy consumption. Customers look to NetApp for solutions to manage their data efficiently and securely. With the launch of the NetApp^® BlueXP^™ sustainability dashboard earlier this year, we took a leadership position with a new dashboard that gives our customers real-time insights into their sustainability, and recommends improvements to meet their goals. The positive feedback was immediate, because sustainability initiatives have become a primary concern for enterprises faced with the challenge of tracking, reporting, and minimizing the carbon footprint from their IT systems.

NetApp continues to berecognized as a green company, and we’re well on our way to achieving our environmental goals. Informed by data, NetApp continually works to improve energy efficiency, reduce our reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources, and conserve resources in communities where we live and work. We also increased our use of renewable energy in our operations by 113% over our baseline. In fact, we were just awarded a Gold medal by EcoVadis, the leading evidence-based ESG rating agency, which provides supplier ratings across the themes of environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. A gold medal puts us in the top 5% of all companies rated by EcoVadis.

NetApp is committed to developing solutions to help manage the environmental impact of business operations—both ours and those of our customers. We continue to work to limit our direct impact by reducing resource use and waste at our data centers and offices, the primary source of our scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We have already reduced scope 1 and 2 emissions by 31% against our baseline, and we’re on track to meet our scope 3 GHG emissions reduction goal by 2030. In 2023, our international headquarters in Cork, Ireland, received LEED Platinum certification, and our Wichita facility runs on 100% wind energy and features drought-resistant landscape, rainfall capturing systems, and automatic sunshades. Our Bangalore campus uses a combination of wind generators, mini hydroelectric plants, and on-site solar plants to achieve nearly 90% renewable energy.

Scope 3 emissions account for more than 90% of our total emissions inventory. We understand that reducing the emissions associated with our full value chain is of critical importance, and we’re working with suppliers and customers to reduce these emissions, to mitigate our overall impact, and to achieve our scope 3 target. In fiscal year 2023, we initiated a supplier engagement initiative to measure our scope 3 emissions and target reductions more accurately.

Our commitment to diversity and equity stems from our core values, business strategy, and belief in equal opportunities for all. NetApp believes that the strongest, highest performing, and most innovative teams have the best talent, are unified in purpose, are diverse in thought and background, and reflect the customers and communities we serve. After hiring our first Chief Diversity Officer earlier this year, we expanded and refreshed our Employee Resource Business Groups (EBRGs); strengthened talent and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) partnerships; earned several workplace and diversity awards such as the 2023 Glassdoor Best Places to Work; and earned a spot on the 2023 Disability Equality Index. We continue to serve local and global communities, and to date, our signature social impact program that focuses on the data skills gap reached more than 75,000 K–12 students around the world.

Our customers entrust us with their most valuable asset—their data. Using the same comprehensive approach to data privacy and security that we enact in our own operations, we faithfully protect and secure our customers’ assets to earn their trust. We conducted rigorous audits by independent, accredited third parties to confirm that our products and services adhere to industry-leading standards.

NetApp continues to innovate, which helps turn a world of disruption into opportunities for every customer, helping customers succeed and make tomorrow better. We know that this work is not done. By leaning into innovation, we will continue to help reduce our collective environmental impact and drive innovation through our portfolio in 2024 and beyond. Check out the NetApp ESG report.