Colt DCS touts sustainability gains amid data center efficiency strategy
The company has improved its Global Reference Design (GRD), embedding lower-carbon materials, energy-efficient systems, and near-zero wastewater cooling
Colt DCS has cut its greenhouse gas emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3 categories by 27% since 2019 as part of its efforts to decarbonize the design, development, and operation of its data centers.
The firm’s 2025 Sustainability Report reveals it achieved 100% renewable electricity for Scope 2 emissions and a 90% renewable share of its total energy consumption across Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
"We are proud of the progress made in reducing absolute emissions in 2025 as we continue advancing towards our 2045 net zero target. Whole life carbon assessments are helping customers and partners identify key sources of value-chain emissions and understand the impact of design and procurement decisions," said Anthea van Scherpenzeel, the company's head of environmental sustainability.
"Through close collaboration with suppliers and industry partners, we are confident we can continue delivering projects at speed and scale while making steady progress towards our SBTi targets.”
Last year, the company expanded its Global Reference Design (GRD), developing a standardized blueprint it said is flexible enough to adapt to local requirements while keeping consistent core principles.
The GRD sees energy-efficient systems, lower embodied carbon materials and near-zero wastewater cooling technologies incorporated into all new data center designs.
According to Colt, the aim here is to maintain annualized Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.2, along with waste diversion rates of 75% in construction and demolition and 90% in operations.
So far, the company has reached TRUE Zero Waste certification across three sites - London North, Tokyo Inzai 1-3, and Osaka Keihanna - and hit a global PUE of 1.41.
In terms of water use, the GRD incorporates chilled water systems using low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants with near-zero water consumption, alongside rainwater harvesting for indoor use.
Meanwhile, closed-loop liquid cooling systems recirculate coolant, transferring heat without relying on evaporation.
Dina Nassar, sustainability analyst at Colt DCS, said efforts to improve sustainability capabilities come in direct response to AI-related pressure, which is creating “new efficiency challenges” for data center operators globally.
"Our revised GRD underpins the efficiency gains made in 2025, by ensuring lower embodied carbon materials and advanced cooling technologies are baked in at the design stage.”
Data center sustainability in the spotlight
The figures published by Colt come amidst rising concerns over data center efficiency and the environmental impact of infrastructure worldwide.
A recent UN report concluded that AI will be using the same amount of water as 1.3 billion people by 2030, along with 945 terawatt-hours of electricity, while CO2 emissions will rise to 399 million tons.
Similar research from PwC warned the data center boom is increasing electricity consumption faster than the supply of clean energy in some parts of the world, leading to higher power prices and increased reliance on fossil fuel generation.
In the US, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that most of the increase in data center electricity demand through 2030 will be met by natural gas, holding back decarbonization efforts.
Earlier this month, the EU announced plans to develop minimum energy-efficiency standards for data centers, saying that there's an urgent need for them to become more energy efficient, reuse waste energy such as heat, and use more renewable energy sources, with a view to becoming carbon-neutral by 2030.
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