Schneider Electric promotes the need for uniform data center environmental impact reporting

Schneider Electric, the global leader in digital energy management and automation and the world's most sustainable corporation for 2021, according to Corporate Knights, recently unveiled a comprehensive new framework for ecologically sustainable data centers. For data center operators at various phases of their sustainability journeys, the industry-first methodology presents five areas of environmental impact, each with significant KPIs. Operators can reduce the environmental impact of data centers by utilizing the architecture.

Data centers are the backbone, perhaps more critical and appropriate, they are the heart of our digital world. All data flows through data centers, and with the accelerated transition to a more automated and more digital world, it is crucial for data centers – the very largest data centers and the very smallest edge data centers - to support the increased demand – efficiently and sustainably, while also delivering on resiliency. With this increased digital demand, the IT-sector energy consumption and projected energy consumption are highly debated topics given the climate crisis.

Today, data centers are responsible for 2% of the world’s CO2 emissions – equivalent to the global airline industry – according to the latest UN IPCC report on climate change. To add to this, according to recent research from Schneider Electric, IT-sector electricity demand is predicted to grow by ~50% by 2030, reaching 3,200 TWh.

As per Statista report (a leading provider of market and consumer data), the industrial sector was the Philippines' second-largest electricity-consuming sector in 2020, with total consumption of roughly 25.6 million megawatts.

Schneider Electric will unveil a framework for a holistic approach to environmental sustainability, which will include important metrics and areas of environmental impact. By proposing five categories, which encompass 23 essential metrics for data center operators in the Beginning, Advanced, and Leading stages of their sustainability journey, the goal is to lead the industry in standardizing data measurement and reporting. Schneider Electric can identify the 17 most relevant sustainability frameworks and standards to help data center operators set goals, report on progress, and certify their facilities.

Schneider Electric is recommending that data centers are holistic in their environmental strategies and reporting which means being inclusive of 5 areas of environmental impact:

• Energy use

• GHG emissions

• Water

• Waste 

• Land and biodiversity

A group of ESG specialists, sustainability consultants, data center scientists, and data center solution architects collaborated to establish the environmental sustainability measure framework.

The goal of the data center sustainability metric framework is to drive the industry to become the leading industry in terms of environmental sustainability, as well as to obtain industry adoption and push the sector toward self-regulation.

Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, said: “Environmental sustainability reporting is a growing focus for many data center operators. Yet, the industry lacks a standardized approach for implementing, measuring, and reporting on environmental impact. Schneider Electric developed a holistic framework with standardized metrics to guide operators and the industry at large. Our intention with this framework is to improve benchmarking and progress toward environmental sustainability to protect natural resources for future generations. 

“The data center industry has made significant progress in increasing energy efficiency; however, as digital demands increase, they must remain committed to driving long-term broader sustainability initiatives,” said Rob Brothers, Program Vice President for the Datacenter and Support Services Program at IDC. You can’t have an impact on what you don’t measure; therefore, companies must establish clear and consistent metrics that account for not only efficient technology, but also the consumption (or possible destruction) of natural resources such as water, land and biodiversity.”

No matter where they are on their sustainability path, Schneider Electric can help industries and business organization with their data center operations. Schneider Electric can consult and guide data centers on everything from setting bold and actionable strategies to practical design, build, operate, and maintain practices, energy procurement services, supply chain decarbonization, and annual reporting, thanks to its global network of over 2,000 sustainability consultants. Schneider Electric's framework was created by the company's Energy Management Research Center, which drew on the knowledge of ESG specialists, sustainability consultants, data center scientists, and data center solution architects to eliminate the guesswork from measurement and reporting. Since its inception in 2002, the Energy Management Research Center has produced over 200 vendor-neutral whitepapers and trade-off tools that are freely available to the industry.

Schneider Electric works with leading technology companies and colocation providers to design, build, operate, and maintain facilities. It is the only digital partner that offers solutions for power, building, IT, and sustainability facets of the business. 

To learn more about the framework and enable your sustainable growth, download the Guide to Sustainability Metrics for Data Centers, today.