UNEP publishes sustainable procurement guidelines for data centres
The United Nations Environment Programme’s United for Efficiency Initiative has published a set of sustainability guidelines for the public procurement of data centre equipment and infrastructure, including computer servers and data storage products. Data centres support various internet services and functions, including websites, email, and streaming media.
The guidelines were developed to address increasing concern at the environmental impact of data centres, which are water- and energy-intensive and have an already significant global carbon footprint. For example, the 2022 electricity consumption profile for one of the largest data centre operators in the world is estimated at more than 11 million megawatt hours — equivalent to the total national electricity usage of Costa Rica.
In response to this challenge, the guidelines provide a set of technical specifications and best-practice criteria to establish procurement requirements for the benefit of the private sector and as a basis for formulating government codes and regulations. The recommended performance criteria address power efficiency, water efficiency, cooling ratios, energy efficiency for servers, and idle state efficiency. Optimal operating conditions address location, renewable energy factor, resilience, modularity, cooling design, temperature and humidity range, power management, and utilisation rates.
- The full guidelines, key messages, and technical highlights are accessible here.
This advisory note was prepared by our associates at ALT Advisory’s Climate Justice & Sustainability Practice (CJS). With an emphasis on implementation, monitoring, and impact reporting, CJS aims to build climate-resilience through digital transformation and climate and environmental justice. Find out more here.
The information contained in this note is for general guidance on matters of interest, and does not constitute legal advice. For any enquiries, please contact us at [email protected]
