France: Schneider Electric research reveals "sustainability action gap" in data centres

Schneider Electric recently commissioned three independent research studies which sought to understand better the maturity of sustainability initiatives within both IT and data center organizations, and where the two industries are currently situated with regards to achieving a net zero vision. The results were disappointing and revealed that there is a significant sustainability action gap in the data center industry.

Through the studies, data was collected from over 3,000 global participants and it was discovered that there is a discrepancy between “where companies think they are” and “implementing full lifecycle sustainability programs across their IT infrastructure.” 

Specifically, 451 research, one of the companies involved in the data collection, found that although 26% of participants self-identified as having a “full lifecycle sustainability program covering all the infrastructure,” but in fact a mere 14% are taking actions to have implemented programs, while 22% were found to not be addressing sustainability as a major focus.

Commenting on the report, Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division at Schneider Electric, said: “Data centres play a critical role in driving Electricity 4.0 which we believe is the key to changing the trajectory of climate change. As an industry, we have a responsibility to drive forward our environmental commitments with extreme urgency. We’ve made some progress but to avoid a major energy challenge, all data centres – including distributed edge data centres — must be more sustainable, efficient, adaptive, and resilient."

He added: “The research is clear – the industry knows sustainability needs to be prioritised but challenges still exist to taking action and will take a collaborative effort to overcome. The good news is the technology to take action in sustainability exists today. Now is the time to act.”