A new report by carbon-removal specialist Arbonics analyses the level to which tech giants are integrating nature restoration into their data centre strategies, with Microsoft ranking highest.
According to the report, Europe’s data centres: The nature report card, Microsoft is now permanently protecting 6,414 hectares of land, more than the 4,816 hectares occupied by its global data centre portfolio.
In addition, the firm has planted more than 77,000 trees through community projects, engaging in native planting at Middenmeer in the Netherlands, large-scale tree planting in West Dublin, and riverbank restoration in Spain.
Ranking the performance
The report analyses the performance of European data centres operated by Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple, comparing and ranking their approaches to land use, site design and ecosystem restoration.
As it noted, electricity consumption by data centres across Europe is projected to increase from 96 terawatt-hours in 2024 to 168 terawatt-hours by 2030, reaching 236 terawatt-hours by 2035, driven by increased demand for artificial intelligence.
The development of large hyperscale facilities means that tech giants will need to ‘go further’ when it comes to nature restoration, to compensate for their annual operational emissions, particularly as pressures on water and other natural resources intensifies, Arbonics notes.
For example, it estimates that one year of operations at Meta’s Luleå data centre in Sweden would require restoring around 3,350 hectares of forest, equivalent to planting 8.4 million trees. In Finland, Google’s Hamina facility would require restoration equivalent to around 19.4 million trees.
‘Re-establish the ecosystem’
“Data centre operators can help re-establish the ecosystem processes that support their infrastructure, creating long-term ecological value alongside their climate commitments” commented Lisett Luik, co-founder of Arbonics.
“The conversation has been framed as a trade-off for too long: innovation versus conservation, progress versus protection. But that narrative no longer holds. Europe’s balance between digital progress and nature restoration will rest on the choices of a handful of major technology companies, and it’s crucial that they get it right.” Read the full report here.
