EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

JOHN BOOTH , CONSULTANT , CARBON3IT

rom my research , it appears that most

These are now coming under scrutiny as their actual sites are still using energy from the local grid which could be high in fossil fuels . Other initiatives include using HVO ( Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil ) instead of diesel in backup generation and the use of evaporative cooling solutions .

So , my conclusion is that the recent energy crisis does not appear to have made any significant impact on their net zero plans , yet .

However , the impact of the energy crisis has focused the minds of policymakers and legislators globally and the current and impending legislation will have more of an impact – and make no mistake , the legislation will have a huge impact .

For starters , if you are seeking to use a green financial instrument to finance your data construction project anywhere in the world , and have European investors , then the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act ( TCDA ) will apply .

This requires the operator to implement 106 of the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centre ( Energy Efficiency ) best practices as well as undertake various other activities .

The EU Energy Efficiency Directive ( EED ) has a specific section for data centres and in a nutshell , operators will be required by May 24 , 2024 , to report to the European Commission the total energy consumption for the site , the percentage derived from renewable energy sources , water usage and the amount of waste heat reused .

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ( CSRD ) applies to data centres and their customers – operators will be required to report various data centre metrics and calculate their GHG emissions .

In addition , customers of colocation and cloud operators will need to be provided with energy data that applies to their estate , be it colocation or from cloud services . Some supplementary regulations are associated with the CSRD , these are the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ( CSDDD ) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards ( ESRS ).

The final element is the Digital Operations Resilience Act ( DORA ). DORA creates a regulatory framework on digital operational resilience whereby all firms need to make sure they can withstand , respond to and recover from all types of ICT-related disruptions and threats . Energy can be considered a threat to digital operations .

In conclusion , the regulatory landscape for data centres – and specifically concerning energy – is hotting up .

The new legislative frameworks take into account the energy crisis which will make data centre operators adapt their net zero plans .

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