Hitachi Vantara has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its global value chain by fiscal year 2040. The Science Based Targets initiative has validated its near-term and long-term emissions targets.
The validation confirms that the targets align with climate science and provides external backing for the storage and infrastructure supplier's emissions plans.
Under its near-term plan, Hitachi Vantara aims to cut absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 98% by fiscal year 2030 from a fiscal year 2024 baseline. It also plans to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 51% per usable petabyte of storage capacity sold by fiscal year 2036.
Its long-term target is to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 97% per usable petabyte of storage capacity sold by fiscal year 2040, again using fiscal year 2024 as the baseline.
The commitment comes as technology suppliers face growing scrutiny over the environmental impact of data infrastructure, particularly as demand for artificial intelligence and other data-intensive services drives up electricity use in data centres. Cooling remains a major part of that demand, with research cited by Hitachi Vantara showing that cooling systems can account for 38% to 40% of data centre electricity use.
The net-zero goal builds on earlier emissions cuts within the company's own operations. In fiscal year 2025, Hitachi Vantara reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 43%, largely by sourcing half of its energy from renewable sources.
It has also expanded lifecycle sustainability work across its Virtual Storage Platform One product line, including block, file and object storage products, and strengthened emissions governance, data quality and audit readiness.
Customer pressure
Simon Ninan outlined the commercial backdrop to the announcement.
"Customers increasingly expect their technology suppliers to demonstrate that their climate commitments are credible and backed by action," said Simon Ninan, Senior Vice President of Business Strategy at Hitachi Vantara. "Our commitment to achieve net zero by FY2040 sets a clear direction and holds us accountable to measurable progress. Independent validation of our science-based targets strengthens that commitment while building on the work already underway across our business to help customers improve efficiency, reduce power and cooling costs and make progress toward their own sustainability goals."
That customer focus is central to Hitachi Vantara's case for linking climate targets to product design and infrastructure management. The company is working to align its wider portfolio with Hitachi Eco-Design Management Guidelines and to help clients measure energy use and carbon impact in storage environments.
One example is VSP 360 Clear Sight, a tool that gives users visibility into energy use and carbon impact across VSP environments and offers recommendations to improve operational efficiency.
Hitachi Vantara also highlighted several customer outcomes tied to its infrastructure. DestekBank reduced data centre energy consumption by 25% and total cost of ownership by 20%, while Malayala Manorama cut power and cooling costs by 70% and reduced data centre rack space by 66%.
Garanti BBVA estimates that its Hitachi Vantara storage systems use about 30% less energy than rival systems, according to the company. Aquiris, which supports water treatment operations processing more than 110 million cubic metres of wastewater a year and collects more than 1 million data points a day, used VSP One Block while reducing power use and lowering its carbon footprint.
Governance focus
Courtney Hadden said the company views target validation as part of a broader governance effort.
"Our commitment to achieving net zero by FY2040 reflects both ambition and accountability," said Courtney Hadden, Sustainability Director at Hitachi Vantara. "Sustainability is most effective when it is embedded into decision-making across the organisation, supported by strong governance and informed by reliable data. Independent validation of our targets reinforces that approach, providing a clear, science-based framework to measure our progress and hold ourselves accountable over the long term."
The announcement places Hitachi Vantara among a growing group of technology companies seeking external validation for climate goals as buyers and investors demand clearer evidence of progress. In the data infrastructure market, where equipment lifecycles, energy consumption and supply-chain emissions all matter, the credibility of emissions targets is becoming more closely tied to procurement and operating cost decisions.
For Hitachi Vantara, the challenge will be translating target validation into sustained reductions across manufacturing, supply chains and product use, areas that typically account for the bulk of Scope 3 emissions for hardware and infrastructure companies.
The company's target framework measures those indirect emissions against usable petabytes of storage capacity sold, linking climate performance to the efficiency of the systems it brings to market.