Euro data center & cloud providers commit to climate neutrality by 2030

Twenty five data center, cloud provider companies and 17 associations have signed a pledge to commit to making Europe's data centers climate neutral by 2030, in a significant effort to ensure long-term sustainability in the industry.

The initiative is called the Climate Neutral Data Center pact and is entirely self-regulated by its signatories.

"Data Centers 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," says The European Data Center Association's chairman, Apostolos Kakkos.

"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."

Signatories must commit to ensuring their data centers are climate neutral by implementing targets for 2025 and 2030 in the areas of:

Energy efficiency with measurable targets; the purchase of 100% carbon-free energy; prioritising water conservation; reusing and repairing servers; and investigating ways to recycle heat.

Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) chairman Alban Schmutz says, "With cloud infrastructure the backbone of the European Union's digital economy, our industry is committed to the idea that we must all play a central role in addressing climate change. This commitment underpins a roadmap for Europe's cloud infrastructure industry to offer climate neutral services to customers by 2030."

The European Commission will monitor progress towards achieving climate neutral data centers twice per year.

European Commission executive vice president for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, says,

"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."

The full list of signatories is below.

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 Center Association
Cloud28+
Cloud Community Poland
Danish Cloud Community
Datacenter Industrien
Data Center 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