Data Centre Magazine February 2022 | Page 79

SUSTAINABILITY

The past two years have seen the data centre industry go from strength to strength . Even as other sectors have been left reeling by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic , data centre operators have seen demand double and redouble , driven by increasing digitalisation , cloud , AI , and 5G adoption , and even the pandemic itself .

The growth in video conferencing , remote work , and internet traffic alone caused by the pandemic has been enough to inspire record-breaking years for data centre capacity increases , and the accelerating transition of regions like
Southeast Asia and Africa towards fully digital economies is only going to intensify this rapid evolution .
However , while data centre operators find themselves building bigger and faster than ever before , the industry labours in the shadow of a looming climate crisis . In parallel to the COVID-19 crisis , the past two years have seen apocalyptic wildfires , rising sea levels , and retreating arctic ice ; grim evidence that the consequences of growthobsessed hyper capitalism are no longer urgent warnings , but facts of life for tens of millions of people .
“ Many climate change ‘ what ifs ’ have become a reality , with reports of
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