Sustainability Language

Data, Technology & Verification Systems

Data center

Facilities housing IT infrastructure that consumed around 415 TWh of electricity in 2024 — about 1.5 per cent of global demand — and growing fast with AI.

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Definition

A data center is a facility housing servers, storage and networking equipment along with the power and cooling systems that support them. The International Energy Agency estimates data centers consumed roughly 415 TWh of electricity in 2024 — about 1.5 per cent of global consumption — and projects demand could more than double to around 945 TWh by 2030, driven by artificial intelligence workloads.

References

Overview

What it means

The physical backbone of digitalisation, whose electricity and water demand makes the digital economy a material energy-policy issue.

How it is used

The term anchors efficiency metrics (PUE), renewable procurement by hyperscalers, grid-planning debates and emerging disclosure rules on data-center energy and water use.

Why it matters

Data-center growth is one of the fastest-moving variables in electricity-demand forecasts; how it is powered materially affects national emissions trajectories.

Review

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