Chris Pyke, chief innovation officer at GRESB, emphasized the necessity of sector-specific benchmarks for data centers, given their distinctive operational requirements and resource utilization. He highlighted the significant energy demands, intricate cooling systems, and specialized usage patterns driven by digital workloads in these mission-critical environments. Pyke emphasized the importance of developing metrics that accurately reflect the evolving nature of data centers as they become increasingly vital in supporting AI, cloud computing, and global digital infrastructure.
Metrics Targeting Data Center Performance
Pyke underscored the need for metrics that align with the unique development and operational realities of data centers, especially as they play an increasingly crucial role in powering AI, cloud services, and digital infrastructure worldwide. By establishing a sector-specific benchmark, GRESB and iMasons aim to define key indicators and metrics specific to data centers, enabling more accurate comparisons and targeted performance enhancements for these critical facilities.
Building on Existing Benchmarks
The collaboration leverages GRESB’s established infrastructure and real estate benchmarks, encompassing data from 41 companies with 842 data center assets valued at $115 billion. Recent findings revealed a notable increase in energy consumption among data center assets, underscoring the sector’s escalating power requirements. A diverse working group comprising industry experts in energy, automation, computing, and asset management will contribute to shaping the new benchmark, reflecting the growing investor interest in the environmental impact of data centers as key drivers of energy demand and capital investments.
Sustainability Takes Center Stage
In a bid to enhance carbon transparency and sustainability efforts across the data center supply chain, iMasons Climate Accord members, including major industry players like Google, AWS, Meta, Microsoft, Digital Realty, and Schneider Electric, have advocated for the adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The push for industry-wide adoption of EPDs aims to accelerate sustainability initiatives, emphasizing the sector’s increasing focus on renewable energy sources and green building materials.
By introducing sector-specific benchmarks and peer comparisons, the collaborative effort between GRESB and iMasons empowers investors to distinguish leaders from laggards, make confident investment decisions, and engage with operators to drive value creation. The benchmarks focus on essential aspects such as energy consumption, emissions, water usage, and workforce considerations, fostering a culture of accountability and sustainability in the dynamic data center industry.
