Key facts
- Forty mayors from cities worldwide have signed a pact to guide data center development.
- The pact aims to ensure sustainable construction and operation of urban data centers.
- Key concerns addressed include energy and water consumption, land use, and climate targets.
- The initiative was launched by C40 Cities, an alliance focused on climate change.
- Standards include using renewable energy, reducing water use, and capturing waste heat.
Forty mayors from cities across the globe have collectively endorsed a new pact aimed at guiding the sustainable development and operation of urban data centers. Announced by C40 Cities, an alliance of nearly 100 cities focused on climate change, the initiative seeks to ensure that data center growth does not negatively impact cities' natural resources, energy prices, or climate goals.
The pact emerged from shared concerns voiced by the mayors of Phoenix and Melbourne, Australia, regarding the significant electricity and water demands of data centers, as well as their competition with housing for available land. Experts at C40 noted that while many new data centers are being built in rural areas, metropolitan areas are also facing immense pressure, with approximately 1,700 data centers already within the C40 network. Development is projected to increase by over 40% in 50 of these cities.
Cassie Sutherland, a managing director at C40, stated that the challenges faced by cities worldwide are similar, prompting the use of a "global mayoral voice" to establish conditions for accepting data centers. The pact emphasizes site selection on abandoned or underutilized land, prioritizing renewable energy sources and battery storage, reducing water usage and emissions, and capturing waste heat. It also calls for data centers to create jobs, procure local goods and services, contribute to infrastructure upgrades, and engage with the community.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego expressed concern that current data center investments may exacerbate climate change and fail to meet community needs, emphasizing the desire to "get it right" for residents and the planet. She noted the importance of innovation and job creation but stressed the need for responsible development. Andrew Batson, global head of data center research at JLL, observed that while developers are drawn to areas like Phoenix for reliable power and predictable weather, political opposition is growing due to fears of blackouts, rising electricity bills, and water scarcity.
While cities in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East have joined the pact, Southeast Asian cities have not yet endorsed it, citing national policies and other complications, though discussions are ongoing. The region, which accounts for a quarter of global energy demand growth, hosts over 2,000 data centers, with energy demand expected to more than double in the next five years. In Melbourne, Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece highlighted that planned data centers could consume up to 20 billion liters of water annually, straining an already stressed water supply.
