By David Watkins, solutions director for VIRTUS Data Centres
Like all sectors, the global banking and finance industry is increasingly aware that taking responsibility for its environmental impact has become a crucial business imperative.
For the most forward-looking businesses, this means not just looking at day-to-day operations, but also demanding rigorous green credentials from their partners and suppliers. Data centre providers – the power-hungry businesses that are responsible for their critical business infrastructure – come under particularly close scrutiny.
The good news is that there’s already progress being made in this arena with data centre operators significantly reducing their carbon footprint. However, there are a number of issues to be navigated before true success can be realised, not least the need to demonstrate that they’re not simply ‘greenwashing’: embarking on green initiatives simply for “good PR value”.
What should businesses in the finance sector be looking for in their data centre partners? It is important that providers are able to demonstrate a holistic approach to sustainability, which tackles the entire lifecycle of their operations, from design and construction, to operation and maintenance.
A holistic approach
Data centres must meet a high standard for energy efficiency, demonstrated through aggressive power use effectiveness (PUE) targets, and many providers work with cutting edge technology solutions to help reach them. However, the hard truth is that providers simply aren’t going to achieve true sustainability by relying on developments in technology and tweaking what they are doing now. Indeed, most data centres have been operating best practice for some time, such as developing a robust approach to air management and implementing efficient cooling techniques.
Instead, organisations should be looking for a holistic approach, one which considers sustainability at every point of the data centre lifecycle – from design, to build, to operation and maintenance. Reducing a data centre’s carbon footprint starts on the construction site. So, it’s vital to ask if your data centre provider is committing to using low carbon materials, to streamlining the delivery process and minimising consumption of new resources.
But sustainability alone, won’t provide the high-quality level of service needed. Although sustainability must be intrinsic in the entire operation, it must manifest itself responsibly and maintain reliability and resilience.
Why responsibility should go hand in hand with reliability and resilience
There has been plenty of commentary in recent months about the challenge for data centres in achieving sustainability goals while simultaneously ensuring the highest quality reliability and resilience. But can data centre providers really do both – provide the most reliable service whilst being sustainable?
The truth is that these commitments actually go hand-in-hand. A sustainable data centre is also often a high performing and reliable facility. For example, renewable energy sources are fast becoming seen as more reliable than fossil fuels, not least because renewable energy is not reliant on a single source, but from several such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass. What’s more, free from the fluctuations of the international oil market, renewable energy is more resilient in cases of falling demand and economic decline.
Another great example of performance and sustainability being intrinsically linked is within the cooling of a facility. There has been plenty of innovation happening in this arena such as harnessing indirect adiabatic and evaporative cooling technology – which are both sustainable and increase the efficiency of a facility.
Look out for standards and certifications
If financial services organisations are to demonstrate ESG targets, data centre providers must be able to keep their promises when it comes to meeting green obligations. The most environmentally committed data centre providers are prioritising being able to prove and substantiate their green credentials.
An important way providers can prove they are accountable is to obtain certifications, providing a third-party verification of sustainability credentials. BREEAM and LEED are both sustainability rating schemes for the built environment, whilst also looking at the lifecycle of a building, from the concept and design to construction, operation and maintenance. Standards can also be helpful in the pursuit of transparency and accountability: specifically ISO 50001 for Energy Management and ISO 14001 for Environmental Management.
Credentials and standards not only provide proof of what’s happening now, but show a clear framework for the future, allowing providers to thoroughly interrogate their effectiveness against green ambitions on an ongoing basis.
Whilst the journey to sustainability won’t be easy, particularly for notoriously power-intensive data centres, many providers are already making great strides towards true sustainability. It’s crucial for companies in the global finance industry to demand that their partners have a truly holistic sustainability strategy, that they can prove their credentials at every step of the way and importantly that they are marrying the ‘three Rs’ – reliability, responsibility and resilience.
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