TechUK calls on datacentre sector to scale up climate change action efforts

Ten-point plan for datacentre sector clean-up

The climate change commitment is just one of 10 energy-related areas flagged in the report that TechUK claims the datacentre sector needs to address to help the government hit its 2050 carbon emission reduction target.

It also goes on to detail the progress so far, as well as the work the sector still needs to do, on areas such as heat reuse, green energy adoption, and monitoring the amount and type of power operators use.

On this point, the document claims if the sector commits to running on 100% renewable power “well before” 2050, while doing a better job of measuring its energy consumption and reusing its waste heat, this will go some way to helping the government meet its net-zero carbon emissions commitment.

“The UK’s challenging net-zero carbon targets must be achieved without compromising security of supply or rendering UK energy consumers uncompetitive, and the datacentre sector must balance resilience, affordability and sustainability to address these challenges,” said the Routemap document.

It also states the sector must do more to minimise the impact its activities have on air quality, and reduce its reliance on the national grid by getting operators to self-generate their own renewable energy supplies.

“The sector is performing well in key priority areas, such as security of supply, adoption of renewables, energy stewardship, reporting energy use and customer transparency,” the TechUK document reads.

However, the same cannot be said for some of the other areas TechUK has flagged in the report.

“Progress is slower in other areas, such as playing a more dynamic role in the electricity market where projects are mainly at the R&D [research and development] or pilot stage,” it said. “Success is elusive in the reuse of waste heat and using embedded capacity to facilitate a more distributed grid.”

The routemap’s publication is being billed by TechUK as a starting point for discussions and action on these issues, which Emma Fryer, the organisation’s associate director for datacentres, said the sector needs to start addressing in a more strategic way.

“The datacentre sector is consistently challenged about energy use, energy stewardship, emissions and growth. We need to look at these challenges much more strategically at sector level, not just how we respond to them but how the sector is positioned within the energy ecosystem,” Fryer added.

“Although we do well in key areas like energy stewardship and resilience, there is always more that can be done, and performance is not always consistent across the sector. As industry representatives, TechUK can help with guidance, sharing best practice and facilitating dialogue with policy makers and other stakeholders.”