A fresh mindset on both growth and green responsibility is crucial to ensure data centres meet surging demand sustainably, as Terry Storrar, Managing Director at Leaseweb UK, explains.
The global data centre industry has been under the sustainability spotlight for many years, and with good reason. The enormous levels of energy required to run contemporary tech infrastructure continue to drive regulatory scrutiny, corporate responsibility initiatives and enormous investment in energy-efficient solutions.
Back in 2008, for example, the EU set up a voluntary initiative “in response to the increasing energy consumption in data centres and the subsequent environmental, economic and energy supply security.” A couple of years later, Greenpeace was calling on big tech to “embrace a transformative business model that prioritises a future built on clean, renewable energy.”
Fast forward over a decade, and the issues have only grown in importance. In the last 12 months, for example, the surge in AI-driven workloads has significantly increased data centre energy consumption, raising widespread sustainability concerns. In Mexico, where the sector is booming, questions have been raised about the impact of growth on water and electricity resources. In the US, similar questions are being asked about water usage, but with the likes of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google and Meta Platforms pledging to be water-positive by 2030, the sustainability message is clearly getting across.
At the same time, of course, the industry is responsible for transformational economic and technological improvements. But, with thousands of data centres operating worldwide and many more on the way, what are the key sustainability challenges for the years ahead, and how does the industry balance opportunity with risk?
1. High energy consumption
As demand for data centre resources continues to grow, so does overall energy use, particularly the cooling solutions required to maintain performance and reliability. There is no magic bullet, with even more energy-efficient approaches, such as water cooling, putting pressure on finite global resources. As a result, the industry needs to double down on the use of renewable energy sources, including wind and solar power.
2. Regulatory pressures
Data centres face increasingly stringent sustainability regulations, with governments and industry bodies tightening compliance requirements. The Energy Efficiency Directive continues to drive standards across both EU and non-EU data centre operators.
At the same time, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires large EU companies – and their supply chains, including those in the UK – to align business goals with Paris Agreement objectives and conduct due diligence on environmental impacts.
3. Customer expectations
Sustainability has become a key differentiator for data centre suppliers, with customers demanding stronger environmental credentials. Green standards are now a primary factor in procurement decisions, making it essential for data centre providers to demonstrate investment in sustainability and meet industry certifications such as ISO 14001:2015.
4. Sustainability performance
Achieving sustainability certifications is just the first step in demonstrating improved environmental performance. Maintaining compliance with evolving environmental standards, however, is an ongoing challenge. As regulations become more stringent, data centres must plan for long-term sustainability investment to keep pace with industry expectations and avoid falling behind on environmental targets.
5. AI and high-performance computing driving energy demand
According to a 2024 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “AI has an environmental problem”, with data centres identified as a focal point with the potential to “take a heavy toll on the planet”. The rise of AI technologies and data-intensive workloads has significantly increased the need for compute power and storage, leading to even higher energy consumption. As AI adoption expands, data centres must find ways to balance performance with sustainability to prevent excessive resource use.
6. Balancing sustainability with data sovereignty
Against the sustainability backdrop, data centre operators must also navigate data sovereignty regulations, which dictate where and how data can be stored and processed. Initiatives such as the European Cloud Campus highlight the growing need for regional data storage solutions, adding another layer of complexity when planning sustainable infrastructure.
Clearly, there are no overnight solutions. Significant progress is being made but the industry must continue to live and breathe its sustainability values. The most forward-thinking data centre operators see sustainability as a competitive advantage, actively competing based on their green credentials and those of their wider supply chain – an approach that deserves recognition.
While major trends such as the growth in AI adoption are putting further pressure on energy resources, the technology is also helping operators run infrastructure more efficiently. For instance, by enabling real-time energy efficiency improvements, automated compliance tracking and predictive planning, AI is also playing a positive sustainability role, and one that is likely to grow in importance in the years ahead.
Driven by a shared sense of purpose and responsible investment strategies, there is enormous scope to deliver the win-win every stakeholder is looking for. But to get there, everyone across the industry must focus on continually improving their performance.
