Schneider Electric today released a comprehensive framework for environmentally sustainable data centers. The framework proposes five areas of environmental impact inclusive of key metrics for data center operators in various stages of their sustainability journey. By leveraging the framework, operators can mitigate the impact they have on the environment.
Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, said: “Environmental sustainability reporting is a growing focus for many data centre operators. Yet, the industry lacks a standardised approach for implementing, measuring, and reporting on environmental impact. Schneider Electric developed a holistic framework with standardised metrics to guide operators and the industry at large. Our intention with this framework is to improve benchmarking and progress toward environmental sustainability to protect natural resources for future generations.
Mounting pressures from investors, regulators, shareholders, customers and employees are driving the need for improved environmental-impact reporting in data center operations. The challenge is that many operators lack sustainability expertise struggle with what metrics to track and strategies to implement. Schneider Electric’s framework was developed by its Energy Management Research Centre leveraging expertise from ESG experts, sustainability consultants, data center scientists, and data center solution architects to take the guesswork out of measurement and reporting. The Energy Management Research Centre was established in 2002 and has developed more than 200 vendor-neutral whitepapers and trade-off tools available for free to the industry.
The aim of the framework is to encourage operators to track and report on standardised sustainability metrics as a way of driving internal alignment and increasing transparency for external stakeholders, including customers and regulators.
