In April, I attended the OCP Regional Summit in Prague, participating in a panel discussion focusing on ‘Cross-Organizational Sustainability Collaboration’, discussing the key challenges and opportunities for sustainability collaboration within our industry - and in particular, exploring the EU legislation that is supporting these efforts. While this is a topic we at CyrusOne think about a lot, this discussion provided a great opportunity to reflect on the progress made to date, as well as what we need to do to encourage further cooperation and partnership within our sector in Europe.
Firstly, reflecting on progress to date in the region, it’s clear that the associated regulations and policies which support Europe’s ambition to become climate neutral by 2050 (laid out in the European Green Deal) have had a significant impact in encouraging collaboration within the industry. For example, the EU Commission’s Technical Working Group created the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities (the EU Taxonomy, for short), a mandatory reporting requirement currently covering 11,000 companies. For data centers specifically, the industry is required to demonstrate alignment with the Code of Conduct for data center energy efficiency, as well as the best practices enshrined in various EU standards.
There’s also legislation that is in the process of being updated; the Energy Efficiency Directive has been in place for more than 15 years and in March of this year, the European Council and European Parliament agreed that the final energy reduction target would be stretched on top of the original target to reduce primary energy by 39% and final energy by 36% relative to the 2007 benchmark. In addition, by May 2024, data centers with a capacity of 500 kW or more may be required to report on their energy efficiency and sustainability. Further, data centers with a capacity of 1 MW or more may be required to reuse their waste heat unless there is no local infrastructure to connect to or if it is uneconomic to do so.
Looking at the dedicated efforts undertaken by the data center industry, I’d be remiss not to mention the European Climate Neutral Data Center Pact (CNDCP) which is setting targets for environmental performance and sustainability goals in five key areas covering energy efficiency, use of green power, water use, recycling and reuse of waste heat. Collectively meeting these targets will help data centres become climate neutral by 2030. The creation of the CNDCP audit tool in December 2022 was a significant step in establishing a culture of transparency within our industry and one which was welcomed by CyrusOne and our peers. In fact, CyrusOne was proud to become the first of the signatories to have all its fully operational data centers in Europe comply with the Pact’s terms. This is a landmark achievement and testimony to our teammates, their commitment to the environment, and our customers.
Looking at these developments, it’s safe to say that an aggressive and proactive approach is being taken to address sustainability challenges within the industry. Both the broader regulations and policies, as well as the dedicated initiatives undertaken by the data center industry have created a culture of cohesion within the sector as we all collectively work toward the same goals. However, there’s undoubtedly more that can be done. One glaring obstacle is solving the data skills gap, which will be critical to encouraging more innovation, agility, and talent within the industry to offset carbon emissions. This is one area that requires further collaboration within the sector. As our own Steve Hayward said, “The next big idea will come from the new, younger generation. Likely, it will be a young, sharp mind who has a different way of looking at things - most notably a unique perspective on sustainability efforts.”
Overall, I’m proud to be part of a sector that is facing these sustainability challenges head-on. But at CyrusOne, we are aware that we are never ‘finished’ in evaluating and improving upon our performance. We recognise that industry collaboration is central to progress and we will continue to work with our peers to collectively work toward a sustainable future.