Arbonics calls for what it calls ‘proportional restoration’ to balance the impact, arguing that data centre operators should restore enough nature to compensate for annual emissions.

Acting as a scorecard to compare nature strategy across Europe’s data centres and evaluating how much nature restoration would be needed to balance each facility’s annual emissions, Arbonics revealed striking differences in how the world’s largest technology companies are integrating nature into their data centres.

Notably, it calls for data centres to, at a minimum, restore enough nature to compensate for operational emissions.

“Data centre operators can help re-establish the ecosystem processes that support their infrastructure, creating long-term ecological value alongside their climate commitments” said Lisett Luik, co-founder of Arbonics.

Looking at how technology giants integrate nature into its European data centres, Arbonics found how operators manage land use, water and biodiversity. It said Microsoft ranked the highest overall, with the company now permanently protecting 6,414 hectares of land – more than the 4,816 hectares occupied by its global data centre portfolio.

However, despite promising examples, the report has found that nature-first designs are far from standard practice across the industry. It noted that Google’s Hamina, Finland as an example would require around 19.4 million trees – enough to cover the entire city of Paris – to compensate for a single year of emissions.

The report found that the development of large hyperscale facilities continues to involve land conversion, material-intensive construction and changes to local ecosystems. Arbonics argues that because of this, operators should go further and restore enough nature to compensate for their annual operational emissions.

These findings have come at a critical time for the data centre industry, as power and energy demands continue to swell amid the AI and digital transformation boom. Data centres across Europe in particular are facing growing scrutiny, as electricity demand is expected to rise from 96 TWh in 2024 to 168 TWh by 2030 and 236 TWh by 2035, a 150% increase in just over a decade.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) also expects Europe to remain one of the largest regions for data centre electricity use in the world.

To help operators act on nature integration, Arbonics lists four priorities:

1. Increase land restoration
2. Prioritise brownfield over greenfield development
3. Report biodiversity at site level
4. Integrate nature-led design features, such as green roofs

Looking ahead to 2026, the report identifies which trends could define the sector’s next chapter. Significantly, it noted how demand will continue to place growing pressure on land, water and grid capacity – making water stewardship a central concern.

Community trust could also have more of a central role in determining where new data centres could be built, particularly as more people become aware of what these facilities are.

It speaks to how nature-led design could play a larger role in how the sector grows.

“The conversation has been framed as a trade-off for too long: innovation versus conservation, progress versus protection. But that narrative no longer holds,” said Lisett Luik, co-founder of Arbonics.

“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.”

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