 Welcome to JSA TV where we're covering the latest stories, trends, and innovations from leaders in the global connectivity, digital infrastructure, space, and the networks within those spaces. And we are coming at you live from beautiful Times Square, New York City for DCD Connect in New York. And I am here with Miranda Gardner. Miranda is the executive director of the I-Mason's Climate Accord. I have heard I-Mason's Climate Accord at least a dozen times just this morning. Only a dozen? Only a dozen. And all I've been doing is sitting right here hearing about it. But Miranda, let's talk a little bit. You know what? Real quick, tell us about the Climate Accord. OK, so thank you for having me again. It's been great to be back here in New York City at JSA. The Climate Accord is part of the infrastructure masons. We are focused on carbon emission reductions, ultimately net zero emissions from the digital infrastructure. And we are really honing in on materials, equipment, and power. We have hyperscalers in our membership, COLO facilities, providers, really the kind of vast network that makes up this really exciting industry who is here present at DCD and, of course, within the larger I-Mason's community. So that's where we are. When you all launched, I cannot think of a single client that JSA represents that didn't say, we want to be part of this. And we have over 250 now. I mean, it is expanding into our AC community, so our architecture, engineering, and contractors. We've gotten more of them involved. More academic partners are getting engaged. Federal government, I mean. We talk about ecosystems. That's a legit thing. Absolutely. Yeah, so OK, sorry. Went off script there for a moment. I'll get back to it. Recently, the SEC issued a ruling on carbon emissions. What are your thoughts on that ruling and how, ultimately, it will affect the digital infrastructure community industry? Hopefully, it keeps everyone still aligned with these reduction targets that they have as organizations, the innovations they are putting forward to do this. Part of what came out last week was a bit of scope three being not as, I wouldn't say as important, but relative depending on an organization's size or what their breadth of reach is. For us, that doesn't matter. Scope three is still a factor in this, as is scope one and scope two. So in my mind, for our members, we're going to continue to kind of double down, do the homework to get these lower and to help our partners. I mean, that's really where scope three is. These are the emissions that are not necessarily within your control, but they're your partner organizations. Hi, we are live folks in case there's any question. Don't worry, just a streaker coming through. Did he have clothes on? He did, he did. Don't worry. We don't have to edit too much. But back to the topic at hand, if you are working with these organizations, again, your suppliers, your vendors, your delivery partners, we're all on the journey together. It doesn't matter if we're easing up or regulatory is easing up. We've got to get this done. So let's do it now rather than waiting until there is a mandate on us. We've got that power. We've got the innovative thinkers in the room to do this kind of work, this heavy lifting that we see ahead of us. Yeah. We're here. So again, I'm going to go off script. Sorry. Go off script, do it. So I sense some reservation in your voice when you say hopefully keeps us all aligned. Is there some concern that it wouldn't keep us all aligned? I wouldn't say concern more that there is now kind of an excuse to ease up. Okay. And I don't want anyone to see it is that other than maybe it gives a timeline difference or again, maybe there's a factor that somebody or an organization wasn't considering. I hope that's not the case. Yeah. I think we all know when we're in a climate where economics matter, where the growth of this industry really matters, sometimes that can get lost in translation and we can find the loopholes if we want to find them. Right. My goal, the climate accord goal doesn't matter. We're still plowing forward. We're still moving at the same rapid pace that the growth of the industry is for the reduction of the emissions that we're seeing ahead. Keep your foot on that gas. Thank you. That's where it is. Yes. I think that's where that too, I think, no, no, no, no, no, this is the opposite. We have to accelerate what these things are. So yeah, keeping us all aligned, good thing. Okay, very good. So back to the script. I know that you were on a panel yesterday, moving the goalpost is environmental compliance and impossible dream. Tell me about the- Tell you about the panel? Tell me about the panel. Tell me if it's an impossible dream or not. So the consensus on the panel seemed to be, it's not impossible, but there are a lot of challenges ahead. My statement was if business as usual is proceeding, it could be impossible. There are major shifts that we need to take to drive cleaner power, for example. What does that look like really doubling down on the infrastructure of the generation of the demand needs that we have? So we got into that. Some of it got into the larger context. It was a debate, right? Debate for- It was a debate format. So not recorded, so nothing's on camera. I was on one of those yesterday and I do wish it had been recorded, but alas, it was not good stuff there. But anyway, some debate. Some major debate, because we got into the larger context of where we fit into, as I brought up, the drivers behind government or the drivers behind the economic argument. We were getting into the weeds of where things can really have a dramatic shift in how we operate and how we function. Generative AI comes up, right? So these kinds of things that are really transforming the market at a pace that we have not seen previously. So yeah, it went back and forth. Reporting, another one. What's going on with the EU regulatory and the reporting? The discussion was we've got to report this right. My sentiment is we've just got to start reporting. It's likely going to be some wrong pieces. There's going to be some misinformation. We've got to get through that. Reporting it right sounds like a reason to halt reporting it right away. Right, you know, if it's not perfect and we talk about this a lot in the climate accord, let's not let perfect be the enemy of the good or doing this. I mean, some of this is trial and error. Yeah, I think about five years ago when some of these seeds were being planted and it felt a lot like lip service. Today, it feels like real, real initiatives and the prospect of real change. And so that's why, you know, folks like yourself and I Masons and the climate accord are all so very important to us right now. How's the show going for you? Are you learning a lot? DCD, I mean, I always have such a fun time at DCD events. This is my first time at DCD Connect and I love it. Yeah, it's a great show. It's a very exciting show. Today, there were a lot of students and next generation professionals here in the room. So to kind of hear what they're thinking is of value and importance to them as well as making sure they're meeting the right leaders in the market. I mean, that kind of cross-generational, cross-expertise comes across not only in the sessions but the showroom floor where those who can't see this were staring down the line of like lunch line right now. We're trying to keep people from infiltrating the interview right now. But they're all chatting with each other. Everyone kind of turns around. Hey, what do you do? Where are you from? What's going on? How do we get involved? What are the conversations? I mean, that's where this conference and their various kind of sessions that they have is just, it's such an exciting thing to kind of take home and then act on. If you had told me yesterday that a couple of conversations I was gonna have today was gonna be about future generations and kind of where things are going and how we are bringing in folks, the generations that frankly get a bad rap in a lot of cases, I would have said, well, that's ridiculous. No one's gonna talk about that. And I think you're the third person to talk about that with me today. I had Phil and Nabil from Nomad Futurists on earlier. So I like that generational shift. I like what they have to say about things and where they want things to go. I think they are keenly aware of that stigma. And they are also noticing, on my side, the environmental side, where there is a lack of action and they are getting frustrated, as am I, as are a lot of people in this space and they wanna act. They wanna have impact. They wanna make moves. So they are not here to have a fluffy conversation. I love that so much. I was speaking to someone on the floor about this very topic. And the only thing I could think about was my daughter, who just turned 20, is afraid of climate change. Like I was nuclear warfare in the 80s. It is that level of anxiety for 20-year-olds. Even younger, I have friends who have five-year-olds, six-year-olds, they call me. And I have conversations with very young children about what is going on and what are we doing because they see it's not snowing and it's winter, I don't get it. On a basic level, this shift in what's happening in our climate, I have a 15-year-old step-side in my house, same thing. They're informed, he's part of the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts now have edge for environmentalism and for sustainability and it's part of becoming an Eagle Scout. One of those two has to be part of their progress as a Boy Scout and a responsible citizen. Thank you, future generations. And he is very excited and engaged about this. I mean, they see the opportunity to make that difference and they are holding us accountable to do it. I love it. I love it so much. Okay, back to the script. Final question, I promise. Initiatives, I may send climate accord focusing on new initiatives. What are the initiatives right now? We are focusing on delivering on our, two of our foundational pillars. So our maturity model, and this is really for companies, organizations to kind of focus in on where they are seeing challenges that need to get them to the next level and how the climate accord can help support that. Do we need more education? Do we need more tools? Are we connecting the right dots for them? So that is really a big focus for all three of the working groups this year as well as our governing body. We have a partnership with the Open Compute Project, OCP. It's a carbon labeling work stream. That is going full steam ahead as well. And that will essentially be almost like a nutrition label for a product, a building, et cetera, to understand the carbon impact of this space. I think the other thing that I stress to my working groups is, what are the uncomfortable conversations that we need to have? And we just had one yesterday with the I-Masons member summit about power. Right now, power was kind of on the floor. Nuclear is part of this conversation. It has to be. Right, Bitcoin, renewables, you name it. What's the definition of clean versus green? I mean, these are things that get very politicized and we don't want to shy away from this. We want to lean in. Responsible supply chain, another one. Who is responsible? What is considered responsible? How do we account for this as we build out facilities? It all makes a difference. Those seemingly incremental steps forward in aggregate are massive monumental steps forward. That's what my governing body members say. There might be stuff that we're running at. There may be things that we are crawling at, all of it though is progressing in the right direction. And that's what we continue to stress. That's it. Miranda, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate it so much. Thank you for having me, always. Of course, of course. And thank you viewers for watching JSA TV. Stay curious, stay connected and we'll see you soon.