Investor survey: sustainability requirements for data centers

According to a McKinsey report, a significant and foreseeable expansion of the data center market is anticipated in the coming years, driven by increasing demand from cloud services, digital transformation initiatives, and the growing volume of data generated by businesses and consumers. However, data centers are not inherently green; they, along with data transmission networks, account for 1% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the sector is considered to need "more efforts" to meet climate targets.

In recent years, considerable advancements have been made in the power efficiency of data centers. As internet traffic surged and workloads in data centers tripled, the rise in energy consumption was notably lower due to improvements in IT hardware, cooling technologies, and a shift towards more efficient cloud and hyperscale data centers. While this progress is encouraging, ongoing enhancements are necessary to further mitigate the absolute increase in emissions, especially as the demand for data centers is expected to grow.

In this context, we conducted a survey to determine whether investors have specific ESG requirements for data centers. In summary, are some data centers more attractive to green-driven investors than others, particularly due to their lower environmental impact? And is it likely to increase the liquidity necessary for financing the sector?