The environmental impact of data centres in France has increased at an alarming rate, according to the latest ADEME report published in January 2025. Their share of the digital sector's carbon footprint has risen from 16% in 2022 to 46% in 2025*. To help reduce the environmental footprint of digital technology, here are five key steps to help data centres become more eco-responsible.
Measuring your environmental impact
The first essential step is rigorous measurement of environmental impact. To achieve this, data centre managers have a number of recognised benchmarks at their disposal:
- The complete carbon footprint, including Scope 3, which incorporates the manufacturing of equipment into the overall calculation.
- The Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE): this standardized metric (ISO/IEC 30134‑2) calculates a data center’s energy efficiency by dividing the total energy consumed by the energy used solely for IT equipment.
- The Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE): this ratio measures water consumption relative to the energy used (the ideal target being less than 0.2 L/kW), with the industry average around 1.8 L/kWh.
- The Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE): this indicator quantifies the volume of greenhouse gases emitted per kilowatt‑hour of energy used.
Improving the energy efficiency of Data Centres
Following this audit phase, a number of concrete actions can be taken:
- Modernization of electrical power systems: optimizing the electrical infrastructure makes it possible to significantly reduce energy losses. For example, Google’s data center in Saint‑Ghislain (Belgium) achieved a remarkable PUE of 1.09 thanks to these optimizations.
- Migration to next‑generation infrastructures: eco‑responsible designs now incorporate innovative solutions such as passive cooling systems or modular architectures adapted to the actual workload.
- Supply with renewable energy: powering data centers with clean energy sources (solar, wind, hydroelectric) significantly reduces their carbon footprint. Microsoft has thus committed to using 100% renewable energy for all its data centers by 2025.
Reducing water consumption
Water consumption, which is necessary for cooling equipment that generates large quantities of heat, is a major energy expense. Three solutions are currently being put forward:
- Recovery and reuse of residual heat: for example, Natixis’ data center in Marne‑la‑Vallée has been heating the Val d’Europe intercommunal aquatic center in Bailly‑Romainvilliers for more than 10 years.
- “Free cooling” technologies: these solutions use outside air when weather conditions allow, drastically reducing water consumption. Scandinavian data centers particularly leverage this approach thanks to their favorable climate.
- Equipment resistant to high temperatures: current research aims to develop servers capable of operating efficiently at higher temperatures, thereby reducing cooling requirements.
Reduce the waste generated by the operation of data centres
Data centres generate electronic waste at three critical points: when equipment is manufactured, during operation and at the end of its life. This waste contains rare and sometimes toxic materials that need to be managed responsibly.
Several strategies are proving effective:
- Extension of facility lifespan: unlike traditional renewal cycles of 3–5 years, some operators can now extend the lifespan of their equipment to 7–10 years thanks to rigorous preventive maintenance.
- Circular economy: implementing refurbishment and recycling programs makes it possible to recover up to 95% of the valuable materials contained in obsolete equipment.
Using prevention and legislation
The regulatory framework is evolving rapidly to encourage good environmental practice in the data centre sector:
Main regulations and labels :
- Law on Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Digital Technology (REEN): this French legislation aims to promote data centers that are less energy‑intensive and less greenhouse‑gas‑emitting, with quantified targets to be achieved by 2030.
- ISO/IEC 30134‑2 standard: it precisely defines the PUE calculation methodology, enabling reliable comparisons between different facilities.
- ISO/IEC 13273‑2 standard: this standard establishes the methodological framework for measuring the carbon footprint of data centers, taking into account the use of renewable energy.
- CEEDA (Certified Energy Efficient Data Center Award) label: this international certification assesses the overall energy efficiency of data centers according to three levels (bronze, silver, gold).
- Code of Conduct for Data Centres: this European initiative encourages the voluntary adoption of best practices to improve energy efficiency in data centers.
* This significant increase can be explained by two main factors:
- The inclusion of data centres located abroad: The first study only took into account data centres located in France, whereas 53% of digital uses are hosted abroad.
- The intensification of digital uses: ADEME attributes this increase to the growing use of digital services such as search engines, the cloud, video on demand, social networks and AI.