Data center sustainability standards grow globally

Uptime Institute’s annual update of its data center sustainability standards report (see Data center sustainability standards) shows an expanding group of regulations, frameworks and standards taking hold across the global industry. Although this report is not an exhaustive audit, it introduces 14 new entries: nine recent mandates and five promulgated before 2024 — spanning state, national and international levels across the US, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.

This year’s additions generally carry a medium to high level of impact for data center operators. Most fall under two key categories: “data centers” and “systems”. The data centers category includes regulations and guidelines specific to data center infrastructure equipment (IT and facilities) and facility operations as stand-alone entities. The latter category (systems) denotes regulations or guidelines that assess a broad set of sustainability criteria covering the totality of the data center operation, including IT and facilities energy use and efficiency, water use and efficiency, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.