ESG and financing: Round table on sustainable data centres

26-03-2025

How can smart financing stimulate sustainable digital innovation? This was explored by investors and financiers during our round table at the DataCloud Energy & ESG conference. We have compiled the key insights.

As sustainability and digitalisation increasingly converge, enormous investment opportunities arise. Investors can not only achieve financial returns but also contribute to a greener, more efficient, and future-proof digital infrastructure.

The digital infrastructure forms the backbone of our economy. From data centres to AI applications, technology is penetrating deeper into all sectors. With this growth, energy consumption also rises. Investors and banks can help decouple this seemingly inevitable connection. Through smart financing strategies, owners and users of digital networks can not only reduce their environmental impact but also accelerate innovation simultaneously.

During the DataCloud Energy & ESG conference 2025, in March, Royal HaskoningDHV hosted a round table with investors and financiers to gain insights from their perspective on the importance of ESG for data centre investments. In this blog, we share our findings.

1. Financing as a catalyst for sustainability

Sustainability is high on the agenda of businesses, governments, and consumers. Banks and investors can make a significant contribution by deploying targeted financing to accelerate the sustainable transition. Moreover, financiers are increasingly being held accountable for the sustainability impact of their investments. Green loans, where favourable financing conditions are linked to ESG objectives, provide companies with an incentive to take sustainability seriously.

This model has already proven itself in sectors such as the energy sector, where wind and solar parks have been scaled up faster thanks to favourable loans. A similar approach in digital infrastructure can lead to energy-efficient data centres.

2. Sustainability of existing digital infrastructure

The assets in the current digital infrastructure were built with the knowledge of IT and sustainability at that time. As IT requirements change, sustainability has broadened beyond energy efficiency, and regulations become stricter, including ESG criteria, there is a growing demand for the sustainability of these assets.

While the construction of new data centres is seen by investors as very interesting projects, financing the sustainability of existing assets is often complicated. Opex budgets are usually insufficient, and capex budgets are often needed to run sustainability projects in parallel with the revitalisation and expansion of the asset.

Visualisation of Governance versus ESG Frontrunners — Governance & Guidance versus being ESG frontunners

Banks can help here through green loans, where companies gain access to cheaper financing when they meet certain sustainability conditions. Proven concepts are now available that can serve as benchmarks for banks and investors when assessing the opportunities of a project. This is important because, in practice, investors do not necessarily see themselves as the pioneers of ESG and sustainability in the industry. However, there is interest in which developments are driven by legislation and which developments belong to the ESG leaders.

3. Regulation and standardisation as driving forces

Regulation such as the EU Taxonomy structurally puts sustainability on the agenda. This forces companies to provide insight into their environmental policies and prevents greenwashing. However, legislation alone is not enough. Real change comes when companies and investors see sustainability not as an obligation but as an opportunity.

Banks can play a leading role in this. Instead of waiting for stricter legislation, they can themselves apply clear sustainability criteria. For example, by only financing data centres where the promised sustainability is not only tested at the investment decision but also during realisation and the operational phase. This creates a market where sustainability becomes the standard.

Collaboration as the key to success

A green digital future requires not only collaboration between many parties but also a systems approach. At present, digital infrastructure is not seen as a system. The government leaves it to the market to determine how the system develops. The various parties, as well as local governments and grid operators themselves, each have their own interests, which are not always favourable for achieving a sustainable digital infrastructure. A holistic approach would be desirable, and this could be a task at the European political level. Within the system, it would be beneficial if parties collaborate, formulate joint goals, and share best practices.

The challenges surrounding sustainability in digital infrastructure are significant, but the solutions are within reach. Banks and investors, supported by technical expertise and insight into distinctive ESG objectives, can fill their position in the sustainable digital infrastructure with targeted financing.

By seeing sustainability as an opportunity, we can build a digital infrastructure that is not only efficient and innovative but also future-proof.