JAMES PENNINGTON
THE DATA CENTRE INTERVIEW
Global data centre energy consumption is at 415 TWh and could more than double to 945 TWh by 2030, surpassing Japan’ s total energy use, according to the International Energy Agency.
As AI workloads accelerate this, the industry faces a choice between optimising individual components in isolation or adopting a system-level approach that addresses efficiency, resource use and circularity together.
James Pennington, Global Sustainability Services Director at Lenovo, says the shift requires operators to look beyond immediate performance metrics. Lenovo has set a target of a 50 % improvement in energy efficiency of servers in the data centre by 2029 / 2030, using innovations in cooling technology, workload optimisation and circular economy practices to meet growing compute demands without proportional increases in environmental impact.
Warnings against optimising data centre components in isolation The scale of projected energy growth demands structural changes now rather than incremental adjustments later. James says operators must factor in everything from growing energy demands and water use to how equipment is reused and recycled.
“ The main change is to take a systemlevel view of the impact of data centres, factoring in everything from growing energy demands and water use to how equipment is reused and recycled,” James says.
JAMES PENNINGTON
TITLE: GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY SERVICES DIRECTOR
COMPANY: LENOVO INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY
James Pennington is Global Sustainability Services Director at Lenovo. He brings expertise in circular economy, sustainability strategy, and environmental leadership, with previous roles at the World Economic Forum and Deloitte.
22 March 2026