Stimulated by the ever-increasing demands of information processing based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, the data center industry must manage rapid growth to support these new technological advances, while at the same time reducing its environmental impact to net- zero, to meet global climate commitments. In response, Schneider Electric has created an updated, standardized environmental reporting framework with business-critical updates to help companies meet this challenge.

This is a revision of the original white paper published in November 2021, which was created to support and promote the data center industry by providing standardized metrics for sustainability reporting. It was the first Data Center Environmental Sustainability Metric framework of its kind. Schneider Electric takes sustainability seriously and solicited feedback from customers and industry associations in 2023, which contributed to the publication of this latest revision of the white paper.

It comprises 28 key sustainability indicators, across five categories: energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste and local ecosystem, the recommended data-driven standardized approach is presented in a revised white paper available for download here.

Since data center companies are at different stages of their sustainable journey, the white paper outlines the values in three reporting stages: Beginning, Advanced and Leading. The Beginning stage has six metrics that represent baseline reporting for energy, water consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—the baseline values required for each data center. The Advanced stage includes more detailed values for energy, water, GHG emissions and introduces two new categories, including waste and local ecosystem. The Leading stage adds even more detailed values to the existing categories.