Digitalization Meets Climate Protection: Legal Framework for Energy-Efficient Data Centres

Michael Denk, Marie-Theres Holzleitner-Senck

2025

Abstract

Data centres serve as a backbone of digitalization, yet consume vast amounts of electricity, particularly for server cooling and uninterrupted power supply. In response, recent EU directives – especially the recast Energy Efficiency Directive and the Renewable Energy Directive – push for transparency, reporting obligations, and reuse of server-generated waste heat. While exemptions (e.g., for economic infeasibility or technical constraints) currently soften mandatory requirements, Germany has adopted ambitious regulations, setting concrete efficiency and waste heat quotas. Still, implementation faces practical obstacles, such as the low-temperature nature of data centre heat, limited district heating infrastructure, and associated costs. As digital services expand, stricter regulations are expected to drive increased energy efficiency and decarbonization across the data centre sector.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Denk M. and Holzleitner-Senck M. (2025). Digitalization Meets Climate Protection: Legal Framework for Energy-Efficient Data Centres. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems - Volume 1: SMARTGREENS; ISBN 978-989-758-751-1, SciTePress, pages 163-171. DOI: 10.5220/0013433100003953

in Bibtex Style

@conference{smartgreens25,
author={Michael Denk and Marie-Theres Holzleitner-Senck},
title={Digitalization Meets Climate Protection: Legal Framework for Energy-Efficient Data Centres},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems - Volume 1: SMARTGREENS},
year={2025},
pages={163-171},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013433100003953},
isbn={978-989-758-751-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems - Volume 1: SMARTGREENS
TI - Digitalization Meets Climate Protection: Legal Framework for Energy-Efficient Data Centres
SN - 978-989-758-751-1
AU - Denk M.
AU - Holzleitner-Senck M.
PY - 2025
SP - 163
EP - 171
DO - 10.5220/0013433100003953
PB - SciTePress