Uptime Institute, the global digital infrastructure authority, has announced a new Executive Advisory report series designed to provide sustainability guidance to owners and operators establishing and implementing sustainability strategies.
The series, titled ‘Digital infrastructure sustainability – a manager’s guide‘, has already had its first installment released: ‘Creating a sustainability strategy’.
The launch of this comprehensive executive advisory series is the latest step in Uptime’s longstanding and expanding program to inform, guide, and support sustainability efforts within the sector – and it comes at a critical time for digital infrastructure operators. Governments worldwide are beginning to establish new regulations and promulgate new policies to discourage unsustainable data centre growth, drive procurement of low-carbon data centre services, and move toward net-zero carbon emissions goals.
However, research by Uptime shows that most organisations have not put in place many of the strategies, processes, and controls they will need to meet all stakeholder expectations and legislator demands. According to Uptime’s 2021 Global Data Center Survey, most organisations tend to only compile and report on power-related sustainability metrics, while far too few are tracking other key elements such as water use (just 51 per cent), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (just 33 per cent), and IT efficiency (just 25 per cent).
The first report in the series, defines the key elements to include in a sustainability strategy, the actions necessary for a successful implementation, and the processes required to measure progress against goals and objectives.
The complete series of six reports hopes to take managers through the key areas that must be addressed in an environmental sustainability strategy, ranging from creating the strategy, reducing energy consumption, buying renewable energy, tracking and reporting carbon emissions, managing water consumption, and equipment reuse and recycling. The advisory series also aims to provide guidance on compliance with and the adoption of critical standards and legislative initiatives, many of which are both confused and confusing.
“As sustainability requirements become more demanding, digital infrastructure operators must be prepared with a comprehensive, actionable sustainability strategy,” said Andy Lawrence, founding member and executive director, Uptime Intelligence.
“This advisory series is a ‘how-to’ guide to implementing effective environmental sustainability initiatives that span all facilities and IT operations and address the needs of all stakeholders inside and outside the organisation,” said Jay Dietrich, research director of sustainability, Uptime Intelligence, and lead author of the report series.
Uptime has been advising operators of digital infrastructure on sustainability and efficiency since 2007, the year of the first Uptime Institute Green Data Center forum. Through its Sustainability Consulting Services and related offerings, Uptime advises some of the world’s largest digital infrastructure owners and operators, many vendors and equipment manufacturers, regulators, and policymakers to help the sector design, build and operate digital infrastructure sustainably – without compromising resiliency.
