Microsoft announces impressive digital leap to boost data protection and sustainability for Danish and EU customers

Copenhagen, Denmark – December 8, 2020 – Today, tech giant Microsoft announced that Denmark is the location for the next sustainable data center region, with plans to build three data centers to run entirely on renewable energy.

Denmark is recognized world-wide as an environmental frontrunner – earlier this month, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced plans to phase out all fossil fuel extraction by 2050, making Denmark the first country in the world to commit to put an end to fossil fuel dependencies, and make the switch to renewable and emission-free energy sources.

The dedication to sustainable solutions makes Denmark an obvious choice for green digital investments. And that is what Microsoft has committed to.

“This is great news – for Denmark, for Microsoft and for all of Microsoft’s Danish customers,” says Peter Odgaard-Jensen, CEO at CTGlobal.

“Our customers are all set to embrace cloud technology and move their data. But it has been an issue that data centers have been located overseas, particularly given the unstable political situation we see in large parts of the western world. The combination of political unrest in many of the markets that have been considered rock-solid for decades, and an increase in focus on data security and data access, as well as a burgeoning shift towards, and demand for, environmentally sound solutions, means that this move from Microsoft is very, very welcome,” states Peter Odgaard-Jensen.

Data protection, access stability and sustainability
As a Microsoft technology consultancy focused on cloud and data center solutions, CTGlobal is met with three primary concerns from customers who consider moving to the cloud: First of all concerns stemming from the issues that arise when moving customer data across national borders and continents, from a data protection regulations point of view. Secondly, concerns about the potential control issues remote data processing can result in, in terms of future access and stability of supply. And thirdly, concerns arising from the growing awareness of the CO2 emissions which data processing is responsible for.

With Microsoft’s decision to place data centers run entirely on renewable energy in Denmark it looks like all of these issues — data protection, access stability and sustainability — can be solved simultaneously for CTGlobal customers that are based in Denmark, and in the rest of the EU.

“Powered by 100 percent renewable energy, the datacenter region will provide Danish customers of all sizes faster access to the Microsoft Cloud, world-class security and the ability to store data at rest in the country. These announcements are part of #DigitalLeapDenmark, a commitment to the country’s green digital future. This plan represents the next step in Microsoft’s longstanding commitment to help the country accelerate public sector digitization, fuel digital innovation to support growth of Danish enterprises, and apply technology to help create a greener future. Today, Microsoft employs more than a thousand people in the country and has recently invested in a quantum computing research lab in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark,”

“This is a proud day for Microsoft in Denmark,” said Brad Smith, President, Microsoft. “Building a hyper-scale datacenter in Denmark means we’ll store Danish data in Denmark, make computing more accessible at even faster speeds, secure data with our world-class security, protect data with Danish privacy laws, and do more to provide to the people of Denmark our best digital skills training. This investment reflects our deep appreciation of Denmark’s green and digital leadership globally and our commitment to its future.”

“The Government’s ambition is for Denmark to emerge from COVID-19 even greener, stronger and more socially just. We have initiated a green recovery of the Danish economy and launched a new strategy for green public procurement, contributing towards our ambitious climate targets. Today, datacenters and IT solutions represent a considerable part of carbon emissions from public procurement in Denmark, so we see a big potential to reduce our climate footprint. I’m pleased to see that businesses are embracing the government’s climate ambitions and taking responsibility for creating a green, digital future. This underlines Denmark’s leading position in both the green and digital transition,” said Nicolai Wammen, Danish Minister of Finance.