C A S E S T U D Y

Antti Kokkonen, Director of Energy at Kesko

With pressure mounting on data centres to cut carbon emissions and optimise power use effectively, businesses must adopt innovative solutions without compromising performance. Antti Kokkonen, Director of Energy at Kesko, explains how the retailer’ s partnership with atNorth is reusing heat to reduce emissions at a flagship store, highlighting a scalable model for lower-carbon operations.

The project marks a significant milestone in atNorth’ s ongoing commitment to integrating circular economy principles into its operations. By repurposing excess heat generated by the data centre’ s infrastructure, the collaboration will supply almost all of the heating required by the adjacent Kesko store, reducing reliance on district heating and lowering emissions for both organisations. sustainability strategy,” said Antti Kokkonen, Director of Energy at Kesko.“ Through this collaboration with atNorth, we are able to significantly cut emissions at one of our stores while demonstrating how innovative partnerships can accelerate the transition to lower-carbon operations.”

The initiative also highlights the broader role data centres can play in supporting local energy ecosystems. By capturing and repurposing surplus heat, the project enhances the energy efficiency of the FIN02 facility while contributing to Finland’ s wider circular economy ambitions.

“ As demand for AI-ready digital infrastructure continues to grow, it is essential that data centres scale responsibly,” said Erling Gudmundsson, COO of atNorth.“ This project demonstrates how data centres can become active contributors to local energy systems. By recycling excess heat, we can reduce our client’ s environmental footprint while supporting our partners’ sustainability goals and delivering tangible benefits to the surrounding community.”

The FIN02 facility is part of atNorth’ s expanding presence across the Nordics and forms a key element of the company’ s strategy to develop sustainable digital infrastructure across the region.

I sat down with Antti Kokkonen, Director of Energy at Kesko, who shed light on the

For Kesko, the project supports its target of achieving a 58.8 % reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, a large portion of which results from heating its buildings. The recycled heat from FIN02 is expected to reduce Kesko’ s emissions from district heating use by approximately 200 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year, representing around 0.9 % of Kesko’ s district heating emissions.

“ Reducing emissions from the heating of our properties is a key priority within our

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