Datacenters need to make emissions data more transparent

In an open letter, the iMasons Climate Accord (iCA), a coalition working to promote the reduction of carbon emissions from digital infrastructures, calls on datacenter solution providers to be more transparent in their environmental declarations amid the rapid growth of these facilities.

The iCA Board of Directors, made up of AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Schneider Electric, has released an open letter explaining the importance of the widespread adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), standardised and third-party verified documents that report the emissions incorporated into products and emitted throughout their life cycle, from raw materials and manufacturing to transport, use and disposal or reuse.

‘EPDs are crucial to transforming the future of digital infrastructures and making them more resilient and climate-friendly. Adopting DAP EPDs in the global supply chain can promote sustainable and responsible outcomes. With standardised and verified data providing a layer of transparency, the initiative uses a collective approach to reduce our carbon emissions and environmental footprint,’ says Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director of iCA.

Access to the information contained in the EPDs allows datacenter owners, operators and end users to effectively calculate the environmental impact of their facilities and choose products (servers, cooling systems, power supplies) and services based on scope 3 emissions and better alignment with sustainability goals.

According to the iCA, although a growing number of local, state and federal policies call for EPDs in various sectors of activity, there is no widespread adoption of these declarations in relation to datacenters. The letter does, however, cite significant progress on the part of the world’s largest hyperscalers and digital infrastructure companies, which are working in partnership with vendors to drive significant change.

All the signatories of the iCA open letter are committed to net-zero carbon emissions targets for datacenters (with deadlines ranging from 2025 to 2040). According to information from the iCA, hyperscalers have implemented strategies to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions. The next sustainability initiative is to reduce scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions along the value chain), which can represent between 38% and 69% of the total carbon footprint of datacenters.

The iMasons Climate Accord, with more than 250 members, represents a combined market value of US$8 trillion. The current open letter is the second issued by the iCA to call for supplier action to accelerate decarbonisation efforts. In April 2023, the institution’s Board of Directors asked suppliers in the datacenter industry to use low-carbon concrete in their facilities’ infrastructures. According to the iCA, concrete accounts for 11% of total global emissions, so using greener concrete in datacenters is a great opportunity to reduce the carbon embodied in these facilities during the construction phase.

Rapid growth of datacenters

The rapid growth in datacenter installations cited in the recent iCA open letter has been broken down into figures by Gartner. Spending on datacenter systems is forecast to grow by 24% in 2024, up from 10% in the previous quarter. This is largely due to Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) initiatives.

For comparison, worldwide IT spending is expected to total US$5.2 trillion in 2024, representing an increase of just 7.5 per cent compared to 2023.

Companies are investing in GenAI projects, tools and customisation of existing products, according to Gartner. And the rapid adoption and integration of GenAI technologies in various sectors is raising the demand for more powerful datacenter infrastructures.