 Welcome to JSA TV, where we're covering the latest stories, trends, and innovations from leaders in global connectivity, real estate, and the networks within. I'm Buffy Harakitas of JSA, and joining me today is Cristiana Weizhorn of Scala Data Centers, where we'll be talking about sustainability and also about Scala and how they are leading the way as a Brazilian based data center operator and how they are literally moving into the North America US space and are here at Data Cloud USA today. So honored to be here with you, Cristiana. Thank you. Thank you so much, Buffy, for having me here. Yeah. I mean, Scala has had a remarkable journey rising up to the top in the Latin American hyperscale market in just over three years. Is that right? Yes, correct. Three and a half years, actually. Yeah. That's such fast growth. Can you share what factors contributed to that acceleration of growth in Latin America, please? Yeah, definitely. So I could highlight some factors that contributed to that. So first of all, local customers that were migrating to the cloud at a faster pace than before. So I think this is one of the most important ones. And second, the power restrictions in Virginia, right? That is the key hub for hyperscalers to provide service to Latin America. And this is very important as well. So in the third one, I would highlight some demand for lower latency in the US that made the hyperscalers release capacity in the US and then move that capacity to Latin America instead of exporting services to them. And lastly, I would highlight the currency, currency restrictions, currency impact, because local consumers prefer don't want to pay dollars for services that are provided locally. So these are the main factors. And of course, they were all affected by the pandemic. It was very super, super impactful for us in a positive way in that sense. And that contributed for us to shift that to all of this work to Scala. It was super, super good. And Scala was very, very rapid, very quick to respond to those events. We mobilized an astonishing group of people there. And we secured land, power, equipment. And with this very good group of people, we were super quick to grow 900%, let's say, in three and a half years. So it's an amazing growth, right? That is incredible growth rate. And you touched on some very important key factors that were pandemic driven. But of course, that we're still seeing today, right? You mentioned power and some of those limitations, the need for low latency. But you're here today in the USA, and we're honored to have you here at DataCloud. But you're also a sustainability partner, which is one of JSA's key initiatives. And you are a sustainability partner for DataCloud USA. I mean, we see the signage everywhere here on the floor. So what are you looking to achieve through this sustainability partnership with DataCloud USA? Right. So first of all, what we would like to achieve with that partnership is, you know, raise awareness, awareness for sustainability. We want people to know the impact that they have on the planet, on the environment and let them reflect on ways on how to minimize those impacts, right? So we are working with a consultancy that is helping us to calculate the carbon footprint of the event, and we are going to offset that carbon footprint. So we are investing in projects around the world that contribute to the climate change. And each of these projects has an amount of carbon that is measured in tones of CO2. And each tone is equivalent to one carbon credit and repurchase in that carbon credit, you know, so that we are investing then in these projects. And therefore, we are contributing to reducing that carbon footprint because these projects reduce the carbon footprint, right? And that's why we are, that's how we are upsetting the carbon footprint of our event. Wow. I mean, thank you for all that you're doing to help offset the carbon footprint here at DataCloud USA in Austin, Texas. I mean, you can definitely see some of the different initiatives that the organization has been doing to make this event more sustainable. And as you know, Greener Data is a big key pillar for JSA. We will contribute to one chapter. Yes. So we are so excited to have you as a contributing author to Greener Data, buying two that will be launching on Earth Day 2024. So I'm sure we'll be speaking to you more about that as we countdown to Greener Data. And like I mentioned, JSA is a big sustainability leader in our industry and bringing, you know, different organizations together and sustainability is a cornerstone of Scala's success. Can you delve into Scala's ESG program and how it aligns with your corporate strategy and some of the specific initiatives undertaking to fulfill these sustainability commitments? Sure, sure. So not only are we passionate about sustainability, but we believe this is the right thing to do. You know, we must advocate for sustainable growth. I personally believe that companies that do that are more successful, right? And so we are very focused on projects of power and water efficiencies. We are investing a lot in reducing the intensity of our carbon footprint. We also invest in education, not only for our own employees, but for the communities around our data centers. So important education. Yes, that's very important, super important. And of course, that we always develop our projects with total transparency and respect for diversity of opinions of all our stakeholders, right? So you asked me for some of the examples of our projects, right? So in the environmental side, I could highlight that Scala was the first Latin American operator to operate or to have 100% of its power coming from renewable sources, right? And we have secured gigawatts of capacity of clean power until 2033. That's amazing. And we were the first Latin American operator to attend the carbon neutrality. Our center of excellence in engineering is working hard to make Scala have the lowest PUE in Latin America. So the PUE is related to power efficiency. It has the lowest in the Latin America. And we don't use water to refrigerate our equipment. So this is also super important for the environment, right? And the social side, I could highlight that we are working also with the communities around our data centers. And we have a total transparent relationship with them, a relationship of trust, right? And not only we hire from the community, but also incentivate our third parties to hire from the community as well. So this is an important for them in the procurement process. This is a differentiator, right, in the procurement process for them. And last but not least, one of the programs that I'm most proud of is the megawatt of opportunity program. This is a program that Scala has established for every megawatt that we book in one region. We donate a full engineering scholarship for students that lives in that region plus a mentorship program plus a job opportunity. So this is a very beautiful program. So not only are you helping the environment and a leader in sustainability in Latin America, you're also the megawatt program. Megawatt of opportunity program. Megawatt of opportunity program. You're giving back to the community in so many important ways. Exactly. Thank you for all that you're doing. Scala data center is a true leader in sustainability, a true leader in giving back to the community. We are so happy to have you here today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time and viewers. Thank you so much for tuning in to JSA TV. Stay connected. Stay curious. Stay sustainable and happy networking. Thank you.