CyrusOne : Supports Host in Ireland Initiative to Plant more than 1,000 Orchards in Ireland

By Matt Pullen, EVP and Managing Director at CyrusOne

Today at CyrusOne, we're announcing our support for Host in Ireland's 'Orchards in the Community' programme, a new addition to its DCs for Bees initiative.

Alongside 48 other organisations from the Irish data centre community, we've joined the pledge to fund and plant more than 1,000 orchards across Ireland in the 2021-2022 planting season. It is set to encourage biodiverse habitats in local communities while protecting and feeding pollinators and will also enable pollination success tracking in Ireland for the first time.

Orchards are important habitats and have always played an integral role in communities and within nature. They provide food sources for pollinators and other species throughout the year, including the 99 species of bees in Ireland of which 30% are facing extinction, and are an important part of nature's ecosystem, both in Ireland and beyond.

Each participant organisation in the programme has been allowed to determine the location of their pledged orchard. Here at CyrusOne, we are planting some of our orchards at our Dublin I campus at Grange Castle, alongside our wetland area and wildflower meadow, enabling employees and customers to be more active in saving Ireland's pollinating species. We are also donating several to local community spaces for the public to enjoy.

We're thrilled to continue our partnership with Host In Ireland and take yet more active steps towards reversing the decline of Ireland's Pollinators. The launch of 'Orchards in the Community' is an exciting yet important development as we continue to give back to our environment, and work collaboratively with our friends, colleagues and peers alike, to make real, demonstrable change for the habitats and ecosystems that exist around us.

Our friend, President and Founder of Hostin Ireland, says of the recent development: 'Success through collaboration has always been front and centre in who and what Host in Ireland stands for. DCs for Bees has been created to raise awareness and take action to reverse the dramatic decline in Ireland's pollinators. 'Orchards in the Community' gives our partners yet another opportunity to collaborate within their local communities and actively assist in the reverse of the decline of Ireland's pollinators.'

This latest pledge is an example amongst many of our ongoing commitment to actively look after the environment and habitats where we have a presence. To this end, we made a formal pledge to 'Habitat' in our 2020 Sustainability Report, making it the fourth pillar of our promise to the environment, alongside water, carbon and energy.

You can read more about our commitment to habitat and biodiversity in a recent blog here and witness the incredible and ongoing progress we are making supporting biodiversity at our Dublin I campus at Grange Castle in the film below.

If your organisation would like to get involved or find out more, please visit the DCs for Bees website at https://www.hostinireland.com/dc-s-for-bees.