The UK Data Centre Energy Challenge
UK data centres currently consume approximately 2.5% of national electricity, according to the House of Commons Library. More concerning is the trajectory: the National Grid anticipates a sixfold increase in commercial data centre demand by 2034, driven primarily by AI workloads requiring significant computational power.
Research suggests the number of UK data centres will increase by almost 20% over the next five years, with around 100 new facilities joining the current estimated 500. This growth, whilst supporting economic development and technological advancement, creates tension with the UK's net zero commitments.
The UK has committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with an interim target of 68% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030. Data centre energy consumption is increasingly scrutinised as part of this trajectory, particularly given that the global ICT carbon footprint already exceeds aviation and is growing faster than overall emissions.
Cloud Migration as a Sustainability Strategy
Paradoxically, moving workloads to the cloud can dramatically reduce energy consumption. Research by techUK and European studies suggest cloud infrastructure can reduce energy usage of business applications by nearly 80% compared to on-premises enterprise data centres.
This efficiency gain comes from several factors: higher server utilisation rates in cloud environments (often 65-80% versus 15-20% in enterprise data centres), more frequently updated and efficient hardware, optimised cooling systems, and the ability to locate data centres in regions with cheaper renewable energy.
For UK organisations, this creates a compelling sustainability case for cloud migration—provided they choose providers with strong sustainability credentials and implement GreenOps practices to optimise their cloud usage.
Major Cloud Provider Sustainability Commitments
Amazon Web Services
AWS has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2025 for its global infrastructure. According to recent data, AWS has achieved approximately 90% renewable energy usage. The company has invested in solar and wind projects across multiple countries, including significant UK investments.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft's sustainability commitments are among the most ambitious in the industry: 100% renewable energy by 2025, water positive by 2030, zero waste by 2030, and carbon negative by 2030. The Azure UK South and UK West regions benefit from these commitments, with Microsoft publishing regional carbon intensity data.
Google Cloud
Google targets 100% carbon-free energy by 2030, focusing on both renewable procurement and efficiency improvements. Google Cloud utilises AI-powered cooling systems that have made their data centres twice as energy efficient as typical enterprise facilities.
UK Government and Regulatory Requirements
The Defra Digital Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030 sets precedent for government digital procurement. It requires that 100% of suppliers of digital services with contract values of £1 million per annum or above have externally verified carbon footprints and a plan to achieve net zero by 2050 or sooner.
For 2025, new data centres in cool or temperate climates are expected to meet high water conservation standards. Data centre electricity demand must be matched by 75% renewable energy or hourly carbon-free energy by 31 December 2025.
Emerging requirements from the EU—including the Energy Efficiency Directive mandating waste heat recovery for large facilities—are likely to influence UK standards, particularly for data centres serving EU customers.
GreenOps: Sustainable Cloud Operations
Moving to the cloud does not automatically guarantee sustainability benefits. GreenOps—sustainable cloud operations practices—are essential to realise the efficiency potential.
Key GreenOps practices include:
Right-sizing resources – Matching compute, storage, and memory to actual workload requirements rather than over-provisioning
Scheduling non-critical workloads – Running batch processing during periods of high renewable energy availability
Region selection – Choosing cloud regions with lower carbon intensity where latency requirements permit
Serverless and containerisation – Using consumption-based compute that scales to zero when not in use
Storage tiering – Moving infrequently accessed data to lower-energy storage classes
Eliminating zombie resources – Identifying and terminating unused instances, storage, and databases
Measuring and Reporting Cloud Carbon Footprint
All major cloud providers now offer carbon footprint dashboards: AWS Customer Carbon Footprint Tool, Microsoft Sustainability Calculator, and Google Cloud Carbon Footprint. These tools provide visibility into Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions associated with cloud usage.
For UK organisations reporting under SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting) or TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), cloud carbon data is increasingly important. The challenge lies in attribution—understanding which business activities drive cloud emissions and how to allocate responsibility.
Best practices for cloud carbon measurement include establishing baselines before optimisation, tracking emissions per business transaction or unit of output, comparing across regions and providers, and integrating cloud carbon data into broader ESG reporting frameworks.
The potential is significant: by 2030, digital technology could cut global emissions by 15%, with cloud computing, 5G, AI and IoT supporting dramatic reductions in sectors like transport, agriculture, and manufacturing. UK enterprises that embrace sustainable cloud practices position themselves both for regulatory compliance and competitive advantage.
