The market for data centre services is booming. According to a study by the Borderstep Institute for the German Bitkom e.V., data centre capacities measured in terms of IT performance alone increased by 84 percent between 2010 and 2020 and are expected to increase by another 30 percent by 2025. As a result, the electricity demand of data centres will also continue to increase.

Not least for this reason, the European Commission has included data centres in the EU taxonomy. As part of the Green Deal, the Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852 is intended to specifically promote a sustainability-oriented economy through the classification of economic activities and the increase of sustainable investments. It provides a common language for stakeholders aligned with the Paris Agree-ment and the UN Sustainable Development Goals and uniform criteria for companies and investors.

TÜV SÜD supports planners, builders and operators in proving that their data centres meet the requirements for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. The experts carry out verifications and audits for the implementation of the European Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency and according to the CENELEC document CLC TR 50600-99-1 "Date centre facilities and infrastructures – Recommended practices for energy management".

The verifications and audits create transparency regarding the energy efficiency of data centres and the fulfilment of the requirements contained in the EU taxonomy. They also provide decisive guidance for investments within this dynamically growing industry. Further information on TÜV SÜD’s services for data centers is available at https://www.tuvsud.com/data-centre-infrastructure-services.