At Stryve Secure Sustainability Is an Employee Affair

“Ultimately, the effort to achieve zero-carbon emissions is about resources and humans. But it’s also about human resources. Climate change is the most important issue we face, but even from a selfish business standpoint, sustainability makes sense and will increasingly be a differentiator not only for customers, but also for employees who will demand that employers do the right thing.”
— Andrew Tobin, CEO of Stryve Secure

Based in Carlow, Ireland, Stryve Secure serves as a dedicated private cloud infrastructure provider and cyber security partner for companies in 20 countries. The company’s highly bespoke private cloud addresses the most stringent security needs. Stryve also offers disaster recovery, immutable backups, and a wide range of security-related services that are relied on by enterprises with sensitive data that can’t be compromised.

Some of these services include cyber security consulting and penetration testing. The company also offers CISO-as-a-Service, which gives customers direct access to some of the world’s most knowledgeable chief information security officers.

We recently checked in with Andrew Tobin, CEO of Stryve, to learn what motivates the company’s efforts and why he sees the aim to reduce emissions as a business, personal, and human resources endeavor. But first we asked Tobin what prompted the company, now carbon neutral, to start its sustainability journey.

“I think it really hit us for the first time when we found out what our carbon emissions were,” he says. “We all know that data centers use a lot of energy, but it struck us as a really scary number, especially when you consider that many much larger organizations operate facilities that aren’t nearly as efficient. From that point on, our team was motivated to make a difference. I see their resolve to ensure the security of our clients every day, so it doesn’t surprise me that the company is already carbon neutral, but we have a lot more work to do to achieve our sustainability goals.”

Stryve powers its data centers with renewable, green power. These include its state-of-the art facilities in Cork and Warsaw, Poland, as well as a new data center being built in the U.K. The company measures the greenhouse gases it directly and indirectly creates – addressing scope one, two and three. Carbon minimization targets were also set not only for the company as a whole, but also for each employee.

“We’re really in this together and are very vigilant when it comes to carbon reduction,” adds Tobin. “Every employee has a carbon budget to monitor their own footprint based on things like their travel habits and use of paper. We’ve also set up a community engagement program that enables employees to trade carbon allowances.”

In addition, the company is involved in four carbon-offset projects in its efforts to become carbon neutral and ultimately achieve a zero-carbon footprint. These include a forestation project in Rio Kama, Nicaragua; a clean oceans project in collaboration with Plastic Bank; a clean cook stoves project in Nyungwe, Rwanda; and a hydropower project in Virunga, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tobin notes, however, that while offsets are valuable, companies should not be able to buy their way into being sustainable.

“Offsetting of course plays a very important role, but it’s a transitionary one in a holistic, long-term approach and commitment to take action on climate change,” he says. “It’s imperative that offsets only be used in this transitionary stage while efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels and emissions are being rolled out and perfected. That of course does not mean that we suddenly won’t support noble and important projects that offer carbon credits, but it does mean that we will do that in conjunction with ones that truly reduce our direct impact on the environment through the company or its supply chain.”

Tobin also says the team at Stryve is thrilled to be part of VMware Zero Carbon Committed. It’s an effort he hopes more companies will join.

“At Stryve we use the VMware Cloud Foundation as the base of our dedicated private cloud and IaaS, so it is fitting that we’re united in the effort to combat climate change as well,” he says. “Ultimately, the effort to achieve zero-carbon emissions is about resources and humans. But it’s also about human resources. Climate change is the most important issue we face, but even from a selfish business standpoint sustainability makes sense and will increasingly be a differentiator not only for customers, but also employees who will demand that employers do the right thing.”

Learn more about Stryve Secure and its partnership with VMware here.