Bridging ESG Goals with Infrastructure That Performs

Telecoms carbon footprint is under growing scrutiny, with Data Centres at the heart of this due to extreme cooling requirements. This is only exacerbated by the projected growth in electricity demand from Data Centres, expected to rise to over 35 TWh by 2050.

However, ensuring that Data Centres can operate on a greener model isn’t just about meeting nationwide Net Zero targets. Data Centres must offer long-term viability and competitiveness, as businesses look towards deploying greener operating models.

We explore how connectivity acts as a key enabler of the green Data Centre transition.

Why Are Data Centres Heavy Carbon Emitters?

Data Centres are some of the most carbon-intensive facilities due to their round-the-clock operation. Built for uptime, these sites are constantly transmitting data, with high availability and low latency, prioritised over energy efficiency. This places increased pressure on rack cooling systems, that must keep devices at a constant low temperature to maximise performance and prevent overheating with demand.

Other reasons for poor efficiency include:

• Limited use of renewables, with heavy reliance on fossil-fuel-powered grids due to excess energy demand.
• Inadequate real-time visibility of consumption, preventing proactive energy management.
• Underutilised waste heat, which is typically vented instead of recycled.

All these factors are heightened by the rising use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots, cloud management, and online gaming. For example, AI uses 33x more energy than other machines running task software, placing huge pressure on Data Centre infrastructure.

What Does a Greener Data Centre Look Like?

Sustainable data centres are shifting toward smart, integrated, and energy-aware infrastructure. This includes using new intelligent power distribution units (iPDUs) to provide the visibility and control needed to understand and manage power consumption across rack-mounted equipment like routers and servers. This insight allows data centre operators to identify what is known as ‘Zombie Servers’, which are servers with no purpose but still using power.

Other iPDUs can provide virtual heatmaps of data centre rooms, maximising the efficiency of cool airflow and equipment placement, to reduce cooling power consumption. One case study shows that using iPDUs in data centre sites allowed an operator to reach energy reduction targets two years ahead of schedule. (ITS, 2025)

Other ways to manage power consumption within Data Centres include:

• Renewable-powered operations, including on-site renewable energy via wind/solar.
• Smart heat reuse systems that convert waste heat into usable energy for nearby homes or offices.

But underpinning all these systems is connectivity, and that’s where full fibre infrastructure becomes essential.

Case Study: Hemiko’s Urban Heat Reuse Network

In partnership with London-based regeneration authorities, Hemiko is developing one of the UK’s first waste heat recovery networks, powered entirely by a Data Cente exhaust.

Using the concept of smart heat transfer, the project will heat around 9,000 premises in West London, using heat entirely harvested from local Data Centres. The project relies on fibre-connected sensor networks, operated from advanced Building Management Systems to extract, analyse and redistribute energy.

Beyond Compliance

Despite the clear environmental benefits, Data Centre operators must also consider the commercial benefits of a greener model. With 73% of UK businesses already prioritising Net Zero, Data Centres operators that cannot prove ESG-aligned performance risk being left behind.

ITS provide the critical underlining to help operators embrace smart energy tracking, data-based heat reuse and iPDUs that set the stage for more environmentally sensitive Data Centres.

Download Our Net Zero Whitepaper

Although often understated, it’s essential to recognise full fibre connectivity as an enabler carbon reduction. To find out how connectivity can power energy savings in other industries, download our whitepaper now.