Iron Mountain – Kristin Stuge – 2023

Goals

In 2022 Iron Mountain committed to updating its science-based target to one aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To meet that commitment, Kristin was tasked with developing a model to chart emissions reductions and initiatives with a high level of granularity to assist the company in creating a climate action plan and establishing an SBTi pathway that will guide Iron Mountain’s journey toward its 2040 objective.

Solutions

Kristin approached this challenge in the following three steps:

• Engaged with internal stakeholders across business units and subsidiaries to collect decarbonization projects and insight into strategic business development plans to forecast future emissions.
• Constructed a sophisticated GHG emissions model that leverages decarbonization plans, operational data, emission sources, and emissions growth projections to set a net-zero pathway in line with SBTi.
• Outlined emissions reduction opportunities through multiple scenarios and presented her findings and recommendations to the enterprise sustainability, energy management, and global real estate teams.

Potential Impact

During her fellowship, Kristin’s contributions will serve as a guide for Iron Mountain’s journey towards achieving net zero status, alongside obtaining approval for both near-term and net-zero SBTi submissions.

Modeling site-level emissions in conjunction with a set of decarbonization initiatives and energy efficiency plans highlighted where the organization will need to focus to meet company-wide emissions reduction objectives. The findings will assist and guide internal stakeholders in effectively prioritizing decarbonization initiatives against established emission benchmarks.