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Data centres are becoming a critical component of the EU’s energy system, already accounting for around 3% of electricity demand, with expected growth due to the increasing use of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Considering the rising share of data centres in overall energy consumption, this report provides a high-level assessment of the current state of energy efficiency in data centres, combining insights from policy frameworks, research, technological developments, best practices, and outcomes from a small-scale survey of EU organisations managing their own data centres.
The accelerating digital transformation of society has placed data centres at the core of our daily lives, making their energy usage, environmental impact, and operational resilience a central concern. In the context of EU climate neutrality ambitions, data centres are under increasing scrutiny to demonstrate not only operational excellence, but also measurable improvements in environmental sustainability. To address these concerns, this report provides a comprehensive exploration of both the state of the art and state of practice in this area. First, it provides an overview of sustainable data centre operations, drawing on a survey of leading European public and private organisations, coupled with lessons from over 20 EU-funded innovation projects. Second, it seeks to offer practical, evidence-based recommendations to guide the energy efficient operation of data centres in line with evolving policy requirements and technology developments.
