Corporate social responsibilities

Sustainable Facilities

Teradata encourages employees to become even more ecologically aware as we advance environmentally friendly practices in our operating locations. We are strengthening recycling programs in our U.S. facilities and seeking additional ways to use recycled products. We are improving the way we maintain our buildings and grounds by incorporating energy efficiency practices and sustainable policies and procedures. In addition, we continuously implement innovative energy and resource conservation programs to increase our Energy Star ratings. The following are examples of our ongoing initiatives.

Teradata's Corporate Real Estate (CRE) Policy Statement

  • Teradata is committed to complying with all applicable health, safety and environmental laws, regulations and standards in delivery of services to customers, interactions with employees and involvement within the community.
  • To fulfill this commitment, Teradata will work to establish and maintain sustainable practices by:​ 
    • Increasing employee awareness of sustainability issues through formal and informal communications
    • Promote ownership, responsibility and accountability for sustainable performance and continuous improvement
    • Establish procurement policies that support regional sourcing, recycled content, reusable materials and Energy Star certifications where economically feasible
    • Continuously improve sustainable performance through compliance auditing, measurement and reporting
    • ​To foster learning and community involvement, Teradata will participate in the exchange of sustainability methodologies, technologies, knowledge and best practices
  • Teradata's CRE department will operate its facilities in a manner that most efficiently meets its sustainability goals through adhering to the standard sustainability policies and procedures governing CRE.

Using Technology to Save Resources

Of Teradata's more than 6,000 worldwide employees, approximately 25% work virtually, allowing for lower fuel consumption and flexibility that attracts the best people.

Over a decade ago Teradata pioneered video conferencing — saving 62,500 miles of business travel annually and not emitting an estimated 23.8 metric tons of carbon monoxide.

Recycling as a Way of Corporate Life

Over the past 13 years, Teradata diverted 999 tons of waste office paper from landfills, which equates to saving 16,991 trees, along with 7 million gallons of water required for processing raw pulp into paper. Teradata also diverted 794 tons of metal scrap during that period. Teradata paper recycling initiatives have moved the company to 40% total recycled and 25% post-consumer waste paper for marketing collateral, which realized these savings in 2008 alone:

  • 43 trees
  • 18,580 gallons of wastewater
  • 2,056 lbs. of solid waste
  • 4,048 lbs. of greenhouse gases
  • 31,994,402 BTUs of energy

Source: Mohawk Paper Mills Environmental Calculator

Now that Teradata is a new company, our employees must order new business cards. Previously, our cards were made from 10% recycled material and 10% post-consumer waste; our new cards are now 100% recycled/post-consumer waste material and are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, which helps raise sustainability awareness in everyone who receives one. We saved 137 trees in 2008 with this one simple change.

Greening Our Datacenters

Teradata Data Centers have been practicing the sustainable philosophy of doing more with less for years, and we have obtained sizeable savings in space and power with through Virtualization and consolidation.
Server Virtualization with the use of the VMWare software application has reduced the need for 95 servers, 192 square feet of data center space, and 257,000 KWH of power. This has also reduced the need for 35 storage cabinets or 560 square feet of data center space.
Replacing our Backup and Restore Technologies has translated into savings of 352 square feet of data center space. Hardware replacement/consolidation of our ERP environment reduced the amount of equipment needed to support our applications by 71 servers and 45 cabinets for a total savings of 450 square feet and 82,000 kWh. 
Finally, our data centers are designed with a hot/cold aisle scheme to maximize cooling.

Beyond Turning Off Light Switches

Teradata installed a Building Automation System (BAS) in our Rancho Bernardo, California, facility to control the campus lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. This system controls operation times and limits the individual zone thermostatic adjustments, ensuring effective climate control without zone competition. BAS also controls the activation of waterside economizers that allow Teradata to minimize compressor operating times. As a building envelope measure, specially coated glass and window treatments were installed to save energy by reducing thermal transfer.

Recognition and Awards

Teradata was recognized for its innovative, environmentally friendly programs and policies by being named a recipient of the 2009 Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) by the California Integrated Waste Management Board.