Digital Realty CEO says sustainability efforts are ‘table stakes today’

Digital Realty Trust, a data center real estate investment trust, is stepping up its sustainability efforts at a time where environmentally conscious investing is an increasingly popular topic on Wall Street.

The San Francisco-based property manager on Wednesday announced a multi-year plan to outfit its data centers in the Dallas region with renewable wind power as part of a new deal with Citi bank.

“We’re focused on sustainability because it matters to our customs and because we think it’s the right thing to do,” Bill Stein, CEO of Digital Realty, told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview.

“We are absolutely committed to delivering sustainable growth for our customers, our shareholders and our employees.”

Digital Realty, which serves businesses in digital media, health care and gaming among other industries, inked a 7.5-year deal with the bank for a power and renewable energy certificate. The certificate, represents electricity generated from a green energy source, is expected to supply the company with more than 260,000 megawatt-hours of wind-generated power each year, according to a press release.

“We’ve more than doubled our renewable energy sourcing over the past two years and last year our renewable energy efforts avoided 500,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to taking over 100,000 cars off the road each year,” Stein told Cramer.

The business move fulfills what Cramer calls “Impact Per Shares,” or eco-friendly investments that public companies are making toward a sustainable future. Those companies have redirected their spending from fossil fuels to more green sources.

Investors today are more concerned about socially and environmentally conscious business plans than they have ever been. The trend can be found in the investing habits in both exchanged-traded funds and hedge funds.

Earlier this year BlackRock CEO Larry Fink wrote in a letter that climate change is now a “defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.”

“In some ways it’s table stakes today,” Stein said of the trend. “[It] didn’t used to be, but it is today.”

Digital realty shares rose 0.76% during Wednesday’s session.