What are data center industry leaders doing to tackle sustainability?

Data center sustainability did not seemingly explode overnight, like we’ve seen recently with generative AI, but its importance and visibility has certainly accelerated over the last few years.

What third party data center companies, both wholesale and colocation, have experienced is an increased demand in the customer requests for proposals (RFPs) they have received to address exactly how they are tackling sustainability. 

At Data Center World and the collocated Data Center BUILD conference, held in early May 2023, Omdia observed three stand-out presentations that looked into how Compass Datacenters, Aligned Data Centers, and NTT Global Data Centers have been tackling sustainability. Here are our key takeaways from these sessions:

• Chris Crosby, CEO of Compass Datacenters, shared his perspective on approaches to sustainability, particularly during data center construction. His clear message is that there are many things that can be done that may seem small, but collectively make a real difference in sustainable data center construction. A summary of his presentation, The one dumpster data center - Practical lessons for construction sustainability, can be found here.
• Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer of Aligned Data Centers, dove deep into how they are addressing not just sustainability in general, but the demands of their biggest customers when it comes to Scopes 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting. The message here is that on top of just your internal due diligence, you have to be using or partnering with a number of supportive sustainability organizations that can assist. A summary of his presentation, It’s not rocket science: Moving beyond renewable offsets, can be found here.
• Ben Stewart, Sr Vice President of NTT Global Data Centers, delivered a particularly pragmatic view of how data center operators should view their role in their sustainability journey and where the industry is at in terms of Scope 1, 2, and 3 reporting. A summary of his presentation, Sustainability used to be about a good story: It’s not that way anymore, folks, can be found here.

Whatever kind of center operator you might be, the perspectives of these industry leading companies and executives that delivered these presentations are well worth your time. The amount of unique and detailed insights will certainly get you thinking of the many ways you can improve sustainability for your IT organization and company at large.

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