Colt DCS cuts emissions by 27% in net-zero data centre bid

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) has reported a 27% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3, compared to the 2019 base year.

The global provider has published its fourth annual Sustainability Report and found it had achieved 100% renewable electricity for its Scope 2 emissions and a 90% renewable share of its total energy consumption across Scope 1, 2 and 3.

It highlights how the company is committing to decarbonise the design, development and operation of its data centres, the company said.

“We are proud of the progress made in reducing absolute emissions in 2025 as we continue advancing towards our 2045 net-zero target,” said Anthea van Scherpenzeel, head of environmental sustainability at Colt DCS. “Whole life carbon assessments are helping customers and partners identify key sources of value-chain emissions and understand the impact of design and procurement decisions.”

She added: “Through close collaboration with suppliers and industry partners, we are confident we can continue delivering projects at speed and scale while making steady progress towards our SBTi targets.”

In order to scale its sustainability commitments further, Colt DCS advanced its Global Reference Design (GRD) in 2025 to develop a repeatable and standardised blueprint that is flexible enough to adapt to local requirements across its developments.

The company said the GRD embeds energy-efficient systems, lower embodied carbon materials and near-zero wastewater cooling technologies into all new data centre architecture. It is also targeting an annualised PUE below 1.2 and waste diversion rates of 75% in construction and demolition and 90% in operations.

To confront water use, a pressing topic in the global data centre industry, the GRD incorporates chilled water systems using low-GWP refrigerants with near-zero water consumption. This is in addition to rainwater harvesting for non-potable indoor use.

Colt DCS said it is also using closed-loop liquid cooling systems that circulate coolant in a sealed loop, thereby transferring heat without relying on evaporation.

Dina Nassar, sustainability analyst at Colt DCS, explained: “As the growth of AI introduces new efficiency challenges for data centre operators across the globe, we continue to advance how we design, build and operate our data centres. Our revised GRD underpins the efficiency gains made in 2025 by ensuring lower embodied carbon materials and advanced cooling technologies are baked in at the design stage.”

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