World Construction Network

Daily Newsletter

11 August 2023

Daily Newsletter

Global digital infrastructure company Equinix has announced its plans to develop a $42m data centre, named MB4, in Mumbai, India.

This new facility is expected to enable both local and international enterprises to increase their digital capacity.

According to real estate and investment manager JLL, the domestic data centre market of the country attained 637MW in the first half of 2022 and is predicted to reach 1,318MW by next year.

According to this year's Equinix Global Tech Trends Survey, 85% of IT leaders in India are considering boosting their expenditure on connectivity in the next year.

MB4 is set to expand Equinix’s digital infrastructure capacity in India to address the rising demand for data centres and interconnection services among businesses.

Equinix India's managing director Manoj Paul said: “The increased digitalisation of the economy is constantly driving the need for data centre and interconnection services in India.

“The availability of MB4, expected in Q4 [fourth quarter of] 2023, will allow us to continue serving our customers’ needs in India, enabling them to leverage our interconnection platform for efficient connectivity to multiple cloud service providers, network service providers and other businesses.

“This will help existing and new customers accelerate their digital transformation journey.”

MB4 will provide enhanced connectivity to significant telecom networks, with Metro Connect having access to the Equinix data centre locations of MB1 and MB2.

MB4 is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of this year after receiving regulatory permissions, with an initial first-phase capacity of 350 cabinets.

Upon completion, the building is projected to accommodate 700 cabinets.

ESG 2.0 marks a shift towards stricter environmental rules

ESG is moving into a different era, which we call ESG 2.0. While ESG 1.0 was driven by voluntary corporate action, spurred by pressure from activist consumers and investors, ESG 2.0 is being driven by a new wave of government policies. The EU has taken the regulatory lead, with rules introduced or in the pipeline that will price emissions, regulate the use of the terms ‘ESG’ and ‘sustainability’ in marketing materials, and make ESG reporting mandatory. The US has taken a different approach, favoring less regulation and more financial support in the form of tax breaks for clean industry (renewables plus nuclear and hydrogen). China is planning to expand its emissions trading system to more sectors, decarbonize its heavy industry, and ramp up its use of renewables. The new policy direction is mainly motivated by the ambition to hit net zero emissions targets. But on top of this, governments are now competing for clean industry and trying to challenge China’s leadership on the production of the world’s green technologies such as solar panels and batteries, as well as the production and refinement of materials needed for energy transition such as lithium. These driving forces are leading to policy that will impact every sector, not just heavy industry, and will keep ESG near the top of the regulatory agenda over the longer term.