It is difficult to see slivers of hope for climate at the end of a hot summer in Europe that has included heatwaves, droughts and widespread wildfires. Yet there are small signs of progress toward more sustainable data centers and networks in some regions.
Sustainability-linked financing for data centers, for example, is expected to increase, according to Dutch banking group ING. While it mainly highlights this trend in relation to the US, it notes that Europe is starting to strengthen regulatory requirements on data center infrastructure’s impact on the environment.
Case in point, Spain is mulling regulation that would require new data centers to source 80% of power from renewable energy generated inside the country.
ING also noted that digital infrastructure underpinning the rapid buildout of data centers will be included in the push for sustainability.
London-headquartered data center connectivity company euNetworks, for example, has adopted two new targets to its climate plans underpinned by a €1.26 billion (US$1.46 billion) sustainability-linked loan. The company said it is seeking to embed sustainability into network development projects from the start through “impact by design” plans.
Further afield, Indian-headquartered Sterlite Technologies (STL) has started using 100% green hydrogen in producing the glass needed for its optical fibers, leveraging a plant it built in Maharashtra together with Hygenco. The company also says it has converted four of its manufacturing plants to 100% renewables through deals with the power distribution company.
Despite some positive news, the overall data center sustainability picture is less rosy. To cite just one example, a single hyperscale data center proposed in London would emit more CO2 in a year than 8,480 flights to New York, the Guardian reports.
And with most of big tech’s infrastructure still located in the US, it is worth noting that the electricity powering it is often far from green. Most recently, an analysis by the Financial Times claims that the 60 largest planned data centers from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta will together have a footprint equivalent to 7% of the country’s power-related CO2 emissions in 2025.
Circularity gets a boost
In other green telecom news, August has brought several announcements related to circularity – a production model that keeps materials, products and resources in use for as long as possible to eliminate waste.
The first is from the GSMA, which has launched a new initiative aimed at reducing e-waste and extending the lifespan of devices. One of its partners is Dutch company Closing the Loop, which specializes in recovering disused devices and has worked with Vodafone and T-Mobile, among others, in Europe.
Meanwhile, Virgin Media O2 has been reflecting on a decade of its partnership with TXO, which specialises in sourcing and selling pre-loved telecom equipment, as well as other circular economy-friendly services. The two have avoided 5,265 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions during the last ten years, according to the UK converged operator.
Not to be outdone, the country’s incumbent BT is reportedly on track to make over £2 billion ($2.7 billion) from selling its copper cables as it decommissions the network, according to the Guardian. If that sounds like an awful lot of money, copper is one of the perhaps less obvious beneficiaries of the AI frenzy and the rapid power infrastructure buildout it necessitates.
Wildfire damage
While August brought cooler weather to some corners of Europe, countries including Belgium and Serbia continued to suffer wildfires well into the month. Even though autumn is around the corner, it’s worth noting that this summer’s carnage is likely to become a more common occurrence in the years to come.
The number of reported wildfires has already increased significantly in many European countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the trend is set to continue. Not only will their occurrence likely increase, but they are also becoming a risk in new regions like Central and Northern Europe.
Telecom infrastructure isn’t immune to damage. In Gironde, in the Southeast of France, 80 kilometers of optical fiber and 1,200 poles in Orange’s network were damaged by what was the second-biggest forest fire since 1949, according to Le Monde.
Other countries have suffered as well. A NASA deep space antenna located in Spain was reportedly threatened by flames, although it ended up unscathed.
