Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact

The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact is a pledge of industry players and trade association of cloud infrastructure services and data centres in Europe to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. It is supported by the European Commission and Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal.[1]

The European Green Deal expects Europe to be climate neutral by 2050.[2]

The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact pledge addresses 5 areas: Prove energy efficiency with measurable targets; purchase 100% carbon-free energy; water conservation; Reuse, repair and recycle servers; look for ways to recycle heat.

Metrics to be achieved by 2025 and 2030 will have to be certified by an independent auditor, except for SMEs.[3]

One of the originality of the pledge is that if a data centre operator signatory of the pledge does not meet the expected metrics, the company would be expelled by all trade association signatories of the Pact.[3]

A first Board of Directors of the Pact was appointed for a 2 year term 24 February 2021. it is composed by 6 members. First directors are Alban Schmutz (OVHcloud representing CISPE and co-founder of the Pact), Michael Winterson (Equinix representing EUDCA co-founder of the Pact), Stijn Grove (Dutch Data Centre Association), Emma Fryer (TechUK), Lex Coors (Interxion) and Fabrizio Garrone (Aruba).[4]

The Pact has been referenced by the European Commission as "instrumental in setting up the European Green Digital Coalition"[5]

  1. ^ "Cloud and datacentre giants unite to create climate neutral EU datacentre industry by 2030".
  2. ^ "2050 long-term strategy". Climate Action - European Commission. November 23, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Governance – Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact".
  4. ^ "Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact Welcomes 12 New Signatories in 1st Month".
  5. ^ "Companies take action to support the green and digital transformation of the EU | Shaping Europe's digital future". 19 March 2021.