Beyond PUE: Rethinking How Data Center Sustainability Is Measured
DCD, Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
Three essential metrics to help data center managers measure sustainability success via a more complete and comparative framework
As data centers become more important to the global digital, data, and communications economy, questions and expectations about their sustainability are getting ever more urgent. The sheer demand for energy required to satisfy consumers' appetite for everything from streaming, to retail, to AI queries, is already stark:
- Global data center electricity demand will double between 2022 and 2030.
- AI data centers consume 4-5 times as much electricity as traditional infrastructure.
- In Europe alone, data center electricity consumption is expected to rise from 70TWh in 2024 to 115TWh by 2030.
In response to the ever-expanding data center footprint, we're seeing regulators tighten disclosure requirements and investors scrutinise environmental risk more closely. Customers, too, expect their digital services to have - and communicate - a credible sustainability strategy.