Forty-two cloud infrastructure providers, data centre operators and industry organisations have today established the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact to make data centres across Europe 100% green by 2030.

The parties have agreed to a Self-Regulatory Initiative, which has been dubbed by the sector as “an historic and unprecedented commitment by an industry to proactively lead the transition to a climate neutral economy.

The plan has been developed in co-operation with the European Commission. It supports both the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050, and the European Data Strategy by making EU data centres climate neutral by 2030. 

The Self-Regulatory Initiative sets “ambitious goals” that will facilitate Europe’s essential transition to a greener economy. It commits signatories to ensuring their data centres are climate neutral by setting ambitious measurable targets for 2025 and 2030 in the following areas:

•          Prove energy efficiency with measurable targets;

•          Purchase 100% carbon-free energy;

•          Prioritise water conservation;

•          Reuse and repair servers;

•          Look for ways to recycle heat;

•          Progress towards achieving climate neutral data centres will be monitored by the European Commission twice a year.

Frans Timmermans, European Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, said: “Citizens across Europe use ever more technology to go about their daily lives and want this technology, also to help secure a sustainable future for people and planet. 

“Today’s pledge from important parts of the data industry constitutes a promise to society and offers a welcome first step towards achieving our common ambitions for a smart and sustainable future.”

Signatories of the pact include:

Cloud providers and operators of data centres

•          3DS Outscale (Dassault Systèmes)

•          Altuhost

•          Aruba

•          Atos

•          AWS (Amazon Web Services)

•          CyrusOne

•          Data4

•          DigiPlex

•          Digital Realty/Interxion

•          Equinix

•          FlameNetworks

•          Gigas

•          Google

•          Ikoula

•          Ilger

•          Infloclip

•          Irideos

•          ITnet

•          LCL

•          Leaseweb

•          NTT

•          OVHcloud

•          Register

•          Scaleway

•          Seeweb

Trade associations

•          CISPE, the association of Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers Europe

•          EUDCA, the European Data Centre Association

•          Cloud28+

•          Cloud Community Poland

•          Danish Cloud Community

•          Datacenter Industrien

•          Data Centre Alliance

•          Dutch Data Center Association

•          Dutch Hosting Providers Association

•          Eco – Alliance for strengthening digital infrastructures in Germany

•          EuroCloud Croatia

•          EuroCloud France

•          France Datacenter

•          Host in Scotland

•          IKT-Norge

•          ISPConnect

•          TechUK

Apostolos Kakkos, chairman of the EUDCA (European Data Centre Association), one of the pact’s signatories, said: “Data centres are the supporting pillars of the fourth industrial revolution and, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, are essential infrastructure of not only the digital economy but of the entire global economy. 

“It is our duty to commit to a self-regulatory initiative that will help to ensure the operational availability, sustainability and the future of our industry.”