In today's digital age, data infrastructure, including data centers and cloud solutions, plays a pivotal role in supporting public management and efficient service delivery. However, these essential components of modern societies come with challenges. They are energy-intensive, consume valuable resources, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. To ensure sustainable digital transformation, efforts are needed to green digital infrastructure, manage climate risks, and reduce environmental footprints.
To address these issues, the International Telecommunication Union and the
World Bank in partnership with the
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have developed a practitioner's guide to '
Green data centers: towards a sustainable digital transformation'.
The guide covers six critical dimensions that practitioners can consider to green data centers:
- climate-resilient data centers;
- sustainable design and buildings;
- sustainable ICT;
- sustainable energy;
- sustainable cooling; and
- e-waste management.
These dimensions not only promote climate mitigation but also contribute to environmental sustainability. The first dimension responds to climate risks to data centers, while the other five dimensions seek to mitigate the climate and environmental footprint from data centers. These dimensions should also be considered as part of public procurement strategies and requirements, and in wider policies and regulations to encourage investment in green data centers and increased resilience and efficiency of existing data center infrastructure.
This guide targets a wide range of practitioners, from policymakers to data center technicians, offering principles applicable to anyone involved in policymaking, regulation, development, operation, or procurement of data center infrastructure. The guide stresses the importance of contextualized strategies that address local conditions and focus on challenges faced by low-and-middle-income countries.
The guide was launched at the
Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya on 5 September 2023.
