Through our societal mission, Sigma2 contributes to creating a green and sustainable future. This is reflected in our vision: We enhance excellent research for a better world! The services we provide to the Norwegian research community contribute to highly valuable research, which we hope will result in new knowledge.
The company's strategies and plans state that we should run our own organization in a sustainable way, as a purchaser, employer, and as a company. Several of our projects work directly towards the UN's sustainable development goals.
Transparency is one of Sigma2's core values, and we strive to be as open and transparent about what we do as possible because we believe it enhances the impact and effect of our work.
Sustainable Procurement
When Sigma2 procures national supercomputers, we aim to be a socially responsible purchaser that contributes to the sustainable transformation of society through our acquisitions.
Sigma2 follows the laws and regulations for public procurement and uses the State's standard agreements (SSA) which include regulations on wages and working conditions. We set qualification requirements related to quality and environmental management systems that suppliers must meet in order to participate in the competitions. Furthermore, environmental considerations, including power consumption, are also part of the evaluation criteria.
We expect our suppliers and partners to take environmental and social challenges and corporate governance seriously, both in their own operations and in their supply chain. We have clear principles that demonstrate the requirements and expectations we have of our suppliers, and we prioritize suppliers who comply with these.
When the company signed a contract with Lefdal Mine Datacenter in 2022, 20% of the weighting for site selection was related to environmental and social conditions.
The new supercomputer arriving in 2025 (named Olivia, previously referred to as "A2") will use 30-40% less power than Betzy, our most powerful machine at the moment, even though its computing power will significantly increase. When "B2" goes into production, the difference is expected to increase even more.
Sigma2 has used Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) for several generations and will continue to do so in the future. DLC is not only the most sustainable method in terms of energy reuse, it is also an extremely efficient way to cool down processors.
The illustration is created using artificial intelligence.
Sustainable Financing
The Research Council sets high standards for research ethics in the projects they finance. It is mandatory to explain any ethical issues in the project and describe how these will be handled.
When Sigma2 applies to the Norwegian Research Council for competitive financing, we always follow the Research Council's research ethics principles.
Sustainable HR Policy
Equality and diversity are important topics for Sigma2 because we believe they contribute to a better society for all. Sigma2 continuously works to integrate diversity and equality perspectives throughout the organization and has goals and measures in several areas. In 2023, we developed the company's Gender Equality Plan.
Sigma2 aims to be an attractive workplace, and we expect all our employees to contribute to an inclusive work environment where everyone is respected for who they are.
Disclosure under the Transparency Act
This is Sigma2's disclosure under the Transparency Act. Download the report for a detailed overview of our work (in Norwegian).