Green Accolade Awarded During 2009 Earth Week LONDON & FRANKFURT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citi announced today that its newly completed Citi Data Center in Frankfurt is the first of its kind in the world to have earned the coveted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). This is the highest achievable award for new construction (V2.2 category). The LEED Rating System is designed to encourage and facilitate the development of more sustainable buildings and is a leading edge system for certifying the world's greenest buildings. Not only is this award a world first, it certifies the data centre's unique achievement in regard to sustainability and energy efficiency. "Citi is committed to ensuring that sustainability lies at the heart of all our major projects and a major new data centre was no different," said John Killey, Head of Citi Realty Services EMEA. "For this project a balanced approach was adopted that recognised Citi's commitment to a sustainable approach for the building without compromise to its operation and reliability." "Close co-operation between our Real Estate and Technology groups has been important to achieving major advances in the way in which we manage technology energy demand in Citi," said Stephen Ellis Head of Technology Infrastructure EMEA. "The energy efficient design of the data centre, coupled with extensive use of new, energy efficient virtualised technology, housed in innovative modular cabinets has optimized energy use and reduced the data cabling needs". "Building operations are nearly 40% of the solution to the global climate change challenge," said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. "While climate change is a global problem, innovative firms like Citi are addressing it through local solutions." This environmentally conscious building has already been honoured for its ground breaking eco-friendly design with the prestigious European industry's "Data Centre Excellence Green Energy Efficiency Award 2007" and the title of overall Winner at the Financial Services Technology (FTS) Magazine Award 2008.
