Building data centres for a low-carbon future
By Alastair McMahon, ESG Director, Apto
In our first article, we explored how environmental responsibility at Apto begins with site selection and early design. Climate considerations are integral to those decisions, but merit specific focus.
Demand for digital infrastructure is accelerating. Cloud adoption, AI workloads and increasing data intensity are driving a new phase of data centre development across Europe. At the same time, the science tells us that global emissions must fall rapidly this decade to remain aligned with the Paris Agreement.
These dynamics now sit alongside each other. For those developing infrastructure, this creates a clear obligation: to deliver new digital capacity as efficiently and responsibly as possible, while aligning with the transition to a low‑carbon, climate‑resilient economy.
This is not a challenge for individual organisations alone, but one the sector must address collectively through consistent standards, transparent reporting and alignment with evolving policy frameworks.
The responsibility on developers
Data centres are critical infrastructure, but also energy‑intensive assets with long operational lifespans. Their carbon profile is largely determined before operations begin, shaped by early decisions on location, design and infrastructure. This places direct responsibilities on developers to:
- Minimise energy demand through design and engineering
- Enable access to lower‑carbon energy over the asset lifecycle
- Integrate climate considerations into early-stage investment decisions
- Anticipate and manage climate-related risks to long-term resilience
In practice, climate performance is influenced at three key stages:
- Site selection and power availability
- Mechanical and electrical system design
- Construction materials and embodied carbon
These decisions are made early, often before planning, and influence outcomes for decades.
“Efficiency is not simply a compliance metric. It determines long-term carbon exposure. Once built, many of these decisions are effectively fixed.”
At the same time, outcomes are shaped by the wider system, including:
- National grid carbon intensity and decarbonisation pathways
- Planning, land-use and infrastructure constraints
- Customer procurement models and operational requirements
Responsibility is therefore shared across asset-level decisions and broader system conditions.
Climate ambition within system constraints
Apto has set an ambition to achieve climate neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, aligned with the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact and Paris-aligned pathways. Delivering against that ambition requires:
- Reducing energy demand through efficient design
- Designing assets to enable lower‑carbon electricity supply
- Embedding climate considerations into site selection and investment decisions
- Aligning with evolving regulatory, investor and customer expectations
Climate performance is also influenced by customer requirements. Apto works closely with customers, including hyperscale operators with defined climate commitments, to integrate performance standards into asset design while maintaining responsibility for core infrastructure.
Energy procurement models, including renewable sourcing, are often customer-led or shared. Delivering decarbonisation therefore depends on the interaction between developer, customer and energy system.
Importantly, this transition is being shaped through a combination of regulatory frameworks, voluntary commitments such as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, and increasing expectations from investors, customers and wider society for transparent and measurable progress.
From design to delivery: a structured approach
Addressing climate impact requires both mitigation (reducing emissions) and adaptation (ensuring resilience). At Apto, both are embedded within project-level decision-making.
1. Climate risk and future conditions
Projects are informed by climate risk and vulnerability assessments to:
- Identify risks such as heat stress, water stress, flooding and extreme weather
- Assess how these evolve over the asset lifecycle
- Inform site selection, engineering design and resilience strategies
Infrastructure must be designed for future climate conditions, not historical baselines.
2. Reducing energy demand at source
The most effective way to reduce emissions is to reduce energy demand. This is addressed through:
- Engineering-led design optimisation
- Cooling efficiency and thermal management strategies
- Application of recognised best practices
Approaches are informed by established frameworks, including LEED, BREEAM and broader benchmarking such as GRESB, alongside ongoing industry collaboration on efficiency metrics and performance standards.
3. Enabling lower‑carbon energy pathways
Assets are designed to support lower‑carbon electricity systems by:
- Enabling compatibility with renewable energy sourcing
- Maintaining flexibility as energy systems evolve
- Avoiding design constraints that limit future decarbonisation
Delivery remains partly dependent on external factors, including grid decarbonisation and customer procurement choices.
4. Embodied carbon and supply chain impact
Operational energy is only part of the carbon profile. Embodied carbon in materials and construction is an increasing area of focus across the sector. At Apto, this includes:
- Quantifying embodied carbon through lifecycle assessments
- Working with supply chain partners to identify lower‑carbon materials and construction approaches
- Integrating carbon considerations more systematically into procurement decisions
5. Designing for resilience
Resilience measures are embedded alongside mitigation. Depending on location, this may include:
- Designing for higher operating temperatures
- Managing water use and availability
- Addressing flood risk and drainage capacity
- Ensuring operational continuity under extreme conditions
6. Continuous monitoring and improvement
Climate risks and assumptions are dynamic. They are:
- Identified early
- Tracked through project development
- Updated as design, conditions and external factors evolve
Supported by structured management processes, this approach enables ongoing monitoring, reporting and improvement, rather than a one‑off assessment.
Where we are today
Over the past 12–18 months, Apto has focused on building the systems and internal capability required to embed climate considerations into project delivery. This has included:
- Establishing structured approaches to climate risk assessment and due diligence
- Applying these across live projects and refining them in practice
- Undertaking climate risk and vulnerability assessments to inform design decisions
- Aligning internal processes with investor, lender, customer and regulatory expectations
While less visible externally, this work has been foundational, ensuring climate considerations are embedded within decision-making, rather than applied retrospectively. As expectations increase around transparency, this also provides the basis for more consistent external disclosure over time.
Focus for 2026: from framework to delivery
The next phase is consistent implementation across a growing portfolio. Priorities include:
- Completing climate risk and vulnerability assessments across all projects
- Developing a Climate Neutral 2030 transition plan with defined emissions boundaries
- Establishing greenhouse gas inventories aligned with recognised standards
- Embedding monitoring, reporting and KPI frameworks
- Integrating climate considerations consistently across the project lifecycle
The focus is on execution; ensuring commitments are supported by data, evidence and measurable outcomes, and can be clearly communicated to stakeholders.
Conclusion
As demand for digital infrastructure grows, the challenge is not simply to set targets, but to deliver them credibly, consistently and transparently.
Data centres are often characterised primarily as energy‑intensive assets. They are also essential infrastructure underpinning the digital economy; from healthcare and research to financial systems and public services. Managing their impact requires:
- Making informed decisions early
- Addressing trade-offs transparently
- Recognising the influence of wider energy and market systems
- Embedding climate considerations throughout the asset lifecycle
It also requires ongoing engagement with stakeholders, including customers, regulators, investors and local communities, as expectations continue to evolve.
When developed responsibly, data centres can support broader system outcomes, including more efficient resource use and the transition to lower‑carbon energy systems. Achieving this depends on how they are designed, integrated and operated over time, and on continued collaboration across the sector.
For Apto, the priority is to ensure that as the business scales, the systems, decisions and data underpinning delivery are robust, transparent and aligned with the expectations of investors, customers and wider society.
