Sustainable Storage: Why It Must Be a Corporate Imperative

By Kathy Mulvany, Sr. Director, Global Head of ESG, Pure Storage

Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It’s today’s reality, impacting our environment, health, and economy. From extreme weather events and scorching summer temperatures to shrinking polar ice caps and decimated habitats for wildlife, the evidence is all around us. This is an existential threat that isn’t going away. If we don’t change behavior, global temperatures are likely to increase by 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, which could herald serious consequences.

And all this data needs to be stored, accessed, and managed. 

Global data storage is projected to exceed 200 zettabytes by 2025, with every person in the developed world having at least one interaction with a data center every 18 seconds of their lifetime. While many assume digital data is carbon neutral, digital technologies actually account for between 8-10% of our energy consumption, and 2-4% of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Data centers are critical for storing and processing the vast amounts of digital information being generated.They also require continual electricity to power and cool servers, provide access to data stored, and maintain backup technologies. In fact, they’re among the highest consumers of electric power, with some estimates suggesting they use approximately 1-3% of global electricity. This percentage is set to rise to 3.2% by 2030.

Within a data center, there are three critical areas of focus as we continue to face the growing challenges of climate change:

• Electricity: Data storage could consume as much as 40% of data center power budgets by 2030.
• Water/cooling: 50% of power used in a data center is spent on cooling technologies. Three to five million gallons of water per day is used for cooling in a typical data center—as much water as needed for a population of 30,000 to 50,000 people.
• Electronic waste (e-waste):  A record 62 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2023, up 82% from 2010. This solid waste stream is on track to rise another 32%, to 82 million tons in 2030.

Everyone, including technology vendors, plays an important role in mitigating climate change and boosting sustainability. These resources offer a variety of thought-provoking perspectives and insights from critical thinkers, data scientists, and industry experts with the aim of shedding light on why sustainability must not be just on the corporate radar, but rather a corporate imperative.