Asia-Pacific (APAC): JLL's new report on sustainability reveals there's room for improvement in the APAC region
Jul 25, 2022 | Posted by MadalineDunn
According to a recent report by real estate consultant JLL, which surveyed 505 data centers across 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region, data center operators are still failing to take charge of their sustainability pledges. While 85% of data center managers believe that sustainability will significantly impact their operations and decision-making, only 28% of them have access to key energy efficiency metrics, and only 12% are "extensively" using sustainable energy and able to make data center and workload placement decisions based on best price or performance metrics.
The report revealed that considerably few data center operators are able to track their energy (27%) and power consumption (31%) in real-time. Considering the growth of the sector in the Asia-Pacific region, Chris Street, Head of Data Centres, Asia Pacific, JLL, said that as "arguably the most dynamic data centre market globally," strategies need to adjust to meet increased ESG expectations. He added: "The sector urgently needs to address its expanding contribution to global emissions, so operators need advice along the entire real estate life cycle - from site selection to investment to facilities management - in order to address the sizable sustainability issues they face."
This was echoed by Kamya Miglani, Head of ESG Research, Asia Pacific, JLL, who said: "As more data centres are required regionally, the conversation will inevitably shift towards greening the real estate supporting this sector and alignment with more aggressive ESG strategies."
JLL analysis, however, did admit that due to there being a lack of global data center standards, it is difficult to report "in-depth ESG metrics."
The report revealed that considerably few data center operators are able to track their energy (27%) and power consumption (31%) in real-time. Considering the growth of the sector in the Asia-Pacific region, Chris Street, Head of Data Centres, Asia Pacific, JLL, said that as "arguably the most dynamic data centre market globally," strategies need to adjust to meet increased ESG expectations. He added: "The sector urgently needs to address its expanding contribution to global emissions, so operators need advice along the entire real estate life cycle - from site selection to investment to facilities management - in order to address the sizable sustainability issues they face."
This was echoed by Kamya Miglani, Head of ESG Research, Asia Pacific, JLL, who said: "As more data centres are required regionally, the conversation will inevitably shift towards greening the real estate supporting this sector and alignment with more aggressive ESG strategies."
JLL analysis, however, did admit that due to there being a lack of global data center standards, it is difficult to report "in-depth ESG metrics."