Can greater standardisation unlock net-zero progress for the EMEA data centre sector?

Global markets depend on data centres. This reliance is highlighted by CAGR predictions, with incredible growth forecasted across Europe in the next three years that will outpace global growth at a 25% CAGR.

Yet, a significant concern remains. The skyrocketing demand for data centres worldwide has increased energy requirements. In part due to the rise of AI, which now consumes 25% of data centre workloads across EMEA sites, Goldman Sachs research predicts a 165% increase in data centre energy requirements between 2023 and 2030. 

Data centres that haven’t been optimised with sustainability in mind prove a significant roadblock for businesses aiming to meet climate objectives, leaving the EMEA market at a pivotal crux. Can we find a standardised level for what a green data centre looks like, or do we continue on a path of region-specific practices?

The EMEA data centre market

As things stand, there’s little standardisation across EMEA. While this hasn’t hampered the sector’s growth, varying data centre practices muddy a transparent analysis of net-zero progress.

With heat one of the data centres’ largest emissions, cold-climate countries such as Finland have intrinsic advantages. Heat waste is lower as the climate naturally keeps centres cooler, reducing energy demands. A strong history of district heat reuse across the region means familiarity with offsetting waste. The same goes for Denmark and Sweden, which also host hyperscaler centres for the likes of Apple and Facebook. A long-established renewables industry similarly boosts energy-efficient data centres in these countries.

FLAP-D (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris) leverages technological prowess, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing. They have different advantages, such as Paris’ nuclear-heavy grid that gives data centres a relatively low-carbon energy base and Amsterdam’s strict environmental controls and capabilities to tap into AMS-IX, one of the world’s largest internet exchanges. However, similar climates, reporting, material usage, and geographical considerations mean FLAP-D countries provide an optimistic view for similar collaboration elsewhere. 

Wider standardisation across similar geographies is more disparate. For example, hosting data centres in the Middle East, Spain, Italy, or Greece presents harsher weather-related challenges and nature-related risk, requiring more intensive cooling capabilities that ultimately impact sustainability measures.

A race against time

Data centres across EMEA are being constructed at a pace to meet growing demand but without a standardised view of what excellence in data centre sustainability looks like, missing green opportunities. This is exacerbated by a mismatch between data centre energy demands and the pace at which renewable energy, such a solar and wind, can be deployed. 

There’s no easy fix here, and construction has to continue, with efforts to make carbon savings and net-zero progress where we can. The intermittency of renewables is also a concern, requiring grid storage solutions and smarter grid systems to ensure reliability. Of course, the availability and success of renewables usage differ from country to country, adding further fragmentation to build best practices.

That said, data centre energy demands are stable and predictable, meaning, if we can continue to make progress on the renewables front, leaders across Europe will quickly set an example for what green energy usage for data centre support can achieve. 

Shades of green

While a few overarching climate policies exist, such as the European Energy Directive (EED) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), reporting remains fragmented. Non-linear perceptions around net-zero strategies and climate investment ROI damage widespread progress toward climate-based directives. Research from Keysource’s State of the Industry Report revealed that only 53% of IT and Data Centre decision-makers have adequate visibility of sustainability strategies.

Variation around what is and is not important to measure is an endemic problem across most sectors’ net-zero progress. There are also multiple differences in climate-related metrics, fragmenting views into energy efficiency and carbon usage. Ultimately, this keeps EMEA-wide development toward greener data centres in siloes, restricting region-wide innovation and standardisation. 

Knowledge shared, knowledge gained

Without clear directives to meet consistent data centre performance across borders, performance standards vary. This stunts consistency across regions, resulting in unpredictable costs, emissions, and risk. Equally, the latest innovations are rarely shared. This is not because of gatekeeping industry secrets, but rather the lack of cross-border collaborative frameworks hindering the adoption of better practices, including new methods of liquid cooling and solar technologies, building material choices, or the integration of renewables.

Take the UK and Northern Ireland, for example - they share similar technological progression, climates, risk, and building practices and yet miss chances to make informed, greener decisions due to restricted cross-border collaboration. Ultimately, a lack of knowledge sharing maintains the perceived risk of transformation, slowing innovation.

Steps toward standardisation

A few foundational changes need to occur for our sector to standardise what a green data centre looks like:

1) Leading from the front

Several data centre consultancies work across the entirety of EMEA, delivering a range of consultative, design, build, investor, and post-build services. These organisations, because of their end-to-end services, are best placed to form an understanding of standards going forward. Reports, whitepapers, event participation, and collaboration with other partners can slowly create a greater understanding of optimal, green practices.

2) Establishing a transparent view of net-zero progress

Equally, data centre build, optimisation, and operation emissions must be diligently tracked. This will aid both internal optimisation and progress toward greener operations, while enabling customers to more readily track and report emissions attributed to their data centre partner. Our sector needs to support our customers when it comes to reporting by providing a more transparent view of all Scope emissions. In doing so, greener operators will continue to be favoured by sustainability-savvy clientele. 

3) Grasp the opportunity for energy efficiency

Operators must recognise that emissions analysis can be measured with minute detail. For example, during the building of Datum’s MCR2 facility, scope emissions tracking went down even into the carbon usage of materials and worker transportation. Measurement is equally important. Data centres across EMEA need to assess energy usage now and how it changes as they optimise in the future. This will create an all-important benchmark that other suppliers can learn from and adhere to.

If these points can be achieved in the coming years, we will be looking at a more transparent, effective, and ultimately greener sector for EMEA data centre use, fuelling our continued growth over the long term.