Decarbonizing
Data
Strategic considerations for data center sustainability in the AI era.
A SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY REPORT
APRIL 2025
WITH RESEARCH BY DYNATA AND FIELDWORK BY CURRENT GLOBAL
DECARBONIZING DATA: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR DATA CENTER SUSTAINABILIT Y IN THE AI ERA
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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 03
About the Report ......................................................................................................... 04
Key Takeaways ............................................................................................................... 05
Section 1: Challenges to Decarbonizing Data Centers ............................... 09
Section 2: Solutions That Reduce Data Centers'
Carbon Footprint ................................................................................... 15
Section 3: Rethinking Data Center Sustainability .......................................... 18
Section 4: Turning Challenges Into Opportunities ....................................... 21
Conclusion: The Path to a Sustainable
Datasphere ............................................................................................... 27
DECARBONIZING DATA: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR DATA CENTER SUSTAINABILIT Y IN THE AI ERA
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Introduction
As widespread adoption of dataintensive artificial intelligence (AI)
technologies speeds up worldwide,
data center operations are facing unprecedented energy demands and a growing carbon footprint. They are grappling with escalating environmental concerns while also striving to scale compute power and storage capacity and to meet their total cost of ownership (TCO) goals.
According to McKinsey1, the power
