Schneider Electric updates data centre sustainability metrics framework

Author: Isha Jain

Spurred by the rising information processing demands of AI and machine learning, the data centre industry is tasked with undergoing rapid growth to support these new technology advancements, while reducing its environmental impact to net zero to meet global climate pledges.

In response, Schneider Electric has revealed a revised, standardised environmental metrics reporting framework with business-critical updates to help companies navigate this challenge.

This is a revision of the original whitepaper published in November 2021, which was created to support and advance the data centre industry by providing standardised metrics for reporting sustainability. It was the first-of-its-kind data centre environmental sustainability metric framework. Schneider Electric takes sustainability seriously and requested customer and industry association feedback in 2023, which contributed to publishing this latest revision of the whitepaper.

Comprised of 28 key sustainability metrics in five categories: energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, and local ecosystem, the recommended standardised data-driven approach is outlined in a revised whitepaper.

Since data centre companies are at different stages in their sustainability journey, the whitepaper outlines the metrics across three reporting stages: Beginning, Advanced, and Leading.

The Beginning stage has six metrics that represent basic reporting for energy, water use, and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission – the core metrics required for every data centre. The Advanced stage includes more detailed metrics for energy, water, GHG emissions, and introduces two new categories including waste and local ecosystem. The Leading stage adds even more detailed metrics to the existing categories.

Making progress on environmental sustainability goals as an industry means adopting standardised metrics for measurement, and making these metrics well understood throughout the market and the data centre industry, as well as publicly reporting on them regularly.

Achieving sustainable data centres is an ongoing process that requires commitment, investment, and collaboration across the industry. By implementing these strategies and continuously seeking innovative solutions, data centres can minimise their environmental impact while still meeting the growing demand for digital services.

Highlights of the updated whitepaper include:

• A detailed outline of the specific 28 metrics within the five key areas of energy, GHG, water, waste, and local ecosystem (biodiversity) that data centres should review.
• Addition of segmentation for GHG emissions metrics by scope 1, 2 and 3.
• Addition of ‘server utilisation (ITEUsv)’ in the energy category to guide efforts to reduce the number of servers to achieve the same level of information processing.
• Addition of ‘water replenishment’ to the ‘water’ category for better water stewardship activities.
• Addition of ‘E-waste’ and ‘battery’ metrics to ‘waste generated’ and ‘waste diversion rate’ under the ‘waste’ category.
• A greater focus on the ‘local ecosystem’ category to include ‘total land use’, ‘land-use intensity’, and ‘outdoor noise’ metrics measuring the direct and indirect impact on biodiversity.
• A recommended holistic approach to maturity level mapping of each metric, inspired by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, for ongoing progress measurement.
• Industry target values for each key metric for data centre organisations.