Data center buildouts are putting unprecedented pressure on the environment. Every year, their greenhouse gas contribution increases as more organizations scale emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Europe is attempting to reimagine the industry to set a carbon-free precedent. What policies and innovations are the foundation for this transition?
Making Energy-Efficiency Standards Stricter
Europe has recently established standards for Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a crucial metric for data center managers. They aim for a low PUE, which indicates optimized energy usage. The standards are included in the European Union’s (EU) Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).
Some countries, such as Germany, have developed more comprehensive extensions of these legislative measures. The Energy Efficiency Act requires data centers to measure the energy they use in relation to the energy they provide to their equipment. All new constructions after July 1, 2026, will need to have a PUE rating between 1.2 and 1.3 to achieve efficiency.
Mandating Waste-Heat Reuse
Equipment radiates heat continuously, especially if cooling equipment is insufficient. Runaway thermal energy must circulate back into the data center to mitigate demands on utilities. If warmth continues to be released from servers and other hardware, it only puts greater energy demands on prospective renewable sources.
Regulations will eventually require fixtures to capture waste heat, promoting circularity. This can include investing in district heating networks, which is ideal for keeping resources on-site and reducing energy consumption.
Unexpected changes in electrical load and internal conditions, such as rising temperatures, can also increase the number of outages and the downtime facilities endure. Businesses often face multiple annual outages due to equipment malfunctions and other factors. Enhancing power security by recycling waste heat will improve energy independence and resilience against blackouts.
Using Phased Transition Plans for Renewable Energy
Many organizations are unable to justify an instantaneous upgrade to 100% renewable energy, especially on-site. Gradual adoption is crucial because it catalyzes the process, allowing stakeholders time to adjust their operations to better accommodate renewable generators. This includes using process discovery to reduce consumption, making them more adaptable to even the most intermittent technologies, such as solar or wind.
Many countries are promoting phased transitions by expanding access to power purchase agreements (PPAs), including notable institutions in the U.S. and Brazil, among others. Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act will require data centers to use 100% renewable energy by 2027, and PPAs are a powerful enabler of this goal.
Requiring Reporting and Accountability
Governments and stakeholders must require transparency to ensure that all data center parties and partners strive for carbon neutrality and adopt renewable energy. Consistent reporting requirements are the most effective way to hold companies accountable, and the EU is leading the way by auditing data centers for their water and energy consumption. For example, one hour of streaming can use up to 12 liters of water, in addition to the energy consumed in the data center.
The EED outlines what key performance indicators are essential to report from data centers. The European Commission also releases an annual report to review existing rating schemes and standards for improvements, and the 2026 edition is set to be published earlier than usual, possibly indicating the urgency of the energy crisis and its impact on stakeholders.
The EU keeps the report information in a database to support the sector as a whole. Making information publicly available is another way to encourage competitiveness in sustainability objectives. It also discourages data silos and behaviors that hide proprietary information.
Centralizing this data is crucial for helping citizens and the workforce understand the broader impact of data centers and their evolution over time. Companies with a power demand of 500 kilowatts are required to submit reports, and the number of submissions is expected to increase annually as more businesses expand their operations.
Advancing Eco-Friendly Designs for Hardware
To help the EU’s objectives, data center infrastructure and hardware should focus on being sustainable, compatible with renewable energy and carbon-friendly. The EU is urging companies to adopt these values by establishing hardware standards for all equipment related to data storage.
The Ecodesign Regulation for Servers and Data Storage Products will encourage the development of more environmentally conscious machinery. Established in 2019, some of the requirements include, but are not limited to:
- Controlling idle power consumption
- Meeting power factor standards
- Supporting firmware and software for longer
- Improving spare part availability
- Making products easier to disassemble
The Power of Renewables
Clean power assets are powerful enough to enable data centers to have a minimal carbon footprint. The sector is still in its early stages, making it the perfect time for stakeholders to adopt these movements and technologies to achieve greater sustainability. Committing to these projects as a continental effort is vital for inspiring neighboring nations to collaborate and achieve the same benefits for the planet.
About the author: Jane works as an environmental and energy writer. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Environment.co.
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 
There is one thing missing from this article and there is assertion on
water. Missing: data centres are radiators of heat, useful heat, heat @
30C heat. Heat which if pushed through a heat pump (yes, one of those)
could be boosted to 60C very easily & then used to heat, e.g.
greenhouses, nearby offices, etc. This only happens on an ad hoc basis
in the EU now. & the European Commission is noticeable in not even
seriously consider it (why would it, it is packed to the rafters with
bureaucrats that have never done anything practical in their entire
lives). Water. Unless a data centee is powered 100% by renewables (in
which case – very little water use) then water use relates to the power
systems (mostly fossil, could be nukes) which run steam turbines. Sure,
data centre chillers use some water – but as explained, taking the
“re-use heat” route would eliminate the need for these. Water problem
solved, free heat for other stuff. I have spoken to data centre lobby
groups and the likes of Amazon’s top banana on energy: all happy to give
their heat away for free. Action so far – zero.
Two problems: One, de-carb/energy transition is an engineering problem.
Two: engineers (who build/design/think), are, for the most part, wholly
absent for any fora in the EU or indeed from the media. This article
proves the point ref media. EU policy formation has no room for
engineers instead it relies on lawyers, economists and other assorted
imbeciles.