Like many countries worldwide, the UK is investing billions in AI infrastructure as part of its ambition to become an AI superpower. This government-led strategy is being accompanied by a steady stream of industry announcements, with the likes of Microsoft and Google committing hundreds of millions of pounds to fund new data centres.
Over the next five years, in fact, the number of UK data centres is predicted to grow by around 100, an increase of nearly 20%. The key driver of this massive growth is, of course, AI, which is driving unprecedented demand for compute capacity.
Fundamentally, AI workloads are pushing compute density to new levels, driving far higher energy consumption than traditional applications. Recent research from Gartner is predicting the energy demand for data centres to rise by 16% in 2025 alone and doubling by 2030. The resulting heat output is increasing reliance on advanced cooling, including water-based systems that still add pressure to limited resources.
As capacity increases at this pace, so too does scrutiny of the sector’s energy use, carbon output and compliance with tightening sustainability expectations. Google’s proposed new Essex facility alone is expected to emit as much carbon as 500 short-haul flights every week, but it also represents just a fraction of the total environmental impact expected from the industry as a whole. Indeed, if energy consumption predictions turn out to be correct, the amount of electricity required by AI systems could equate to nearly half of total global data centre power consumption by the end of this year.
An industry under scrutiny
This puts operators in a difficult position, as they face conflicting pressures to deliver the infrastructure needed to embrace the AI boom while also complying with stricter sustainability regulations and meeting customer demand for greener facilities.
These issues are far from new, with the data centre industry under environmental scrutiny long before AI took off in spectacular fashion just three years ago. In recent years, regulators have been actively increasing oversight, with rules such as the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) requiring operators to report energy-efficiency KPIs and demonstrate the use of renewables.
Customers are also applying pressure, with sustainability and certifications such as ISO 14001:2015 now among the leading criteria in data centre procurement decisions. The result is an extremely challenging environment where operators must show continuous progress rather than one-off compliance.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that AI has an environmental problem, identifying data centres as a focal point due to the scale of power and cooling required. As adoption accelerates, operators must support rising performance expectations without creating unsustainable strain on their infrastructure or local energy supply.
Improving environmental performance
So, what is being done to try and balance both priorities? Among the main initiatives are new cooling methods, including water-cooled servers and fully water-cooled racks, designed to more efficiently manage energy resources
There is also growing use of renewable power sources as operators work to reduce reliance on the legacy generation and neutralise carbon output. Google is an interesting example of this approach, having matched 100% of its annual global electricity consumption with renewable energy since 2017. This doesn’t mean that every Google data centre server is physically powered by renewable energy in real time, but the company purchases the same amount of renewable electricity needed to power its data centre infrastructure.
These and other industry initiatives are essential, but there is a long way to go. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centres currently source about 27% of their electricity from renewables, and these sources are expected to provide enough additional electricity to raise that share to about 50% by 2030.
Public awareness and demand for positive change also means sustainability is becoming a competitive differentiator, with operators actively promoting their green credentials and those of their wider supply chain. The most forward-thinking providers now compete on sustainability performance as much as on availability or security.
A complex ecosystem
If these issues weren’t enough to contend with, data sovereignty, which dictates where and how data can be stored and processed, has become significantly more important, with world events and regulatory developments influencing data-location requirements. Regional storage mandates add constraints to how and where operators can build or scale sustainable infrastructure. So much so that, according to Gartner, more than 75% of businesses outside the US will have a digital sovereignty strategy in place by 2030.
In response, initiatives such as the European Cloud Campus illustrate the industry’s push to create sovereign environments that support AI and cloud workloads while keeping data within regulated regions. Projects such as this will help data centre operators develop AI and cloud applications that work on data stored and processed within Europe, strengthening the European Commission’s commitment to creating a robust, sovereign European cloud.
Clearly, there are no overnight solutions to these various important challenges. Significant progress is being made, but the industry must continue to prioritise its shared sustainability values. To deliver on the industry’s potential and responsibilities alike, failure is not an option.
Terry Storrar
Terry Storrar is Managing Director of Leaseweb UK. With over 25 years of experience in the technology sector, Terry is a proven leader, business founder, and turnaround specialist who drives growth and innovation at Leaseweb, a global provider of cloud hosting solutions. Terry leads the UK operations and oversees the strategic direction, customer engagement, and team development of the organisation.
