The British IT industry association BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT (formerly British Computer Society) unveiled a new data center certification program on Thursday that awards organizations for following energy efficiency best practices in their mission-critical facilities.

The accreditation is called Certified Energy Efficiency Data Center Award (CEEDA). BCS announced launch of the program at the fourth annual DatacenterDynamics Datacentre Leaders Awards ceremony in London.

"BCS is uniquely positioned to offer a truly independently governed award for the data center industry that not only recognizes those that have improved their energy efficiency but also highlights future areas for further improvement," Zahl Limbuwala, chair of the Data Center Specialist Group, said in a statement.

CEEDA will give data center operators an "independent accreditation and verifiable evidence that their data center is following energy efficiency best practice", according to BCS.

Qualified assessors will verify energy efficiency measures taken in every data center considered for the award and issue qualifying facilities one of three levels of CEEDA: Gold, Silver or Bronze.

In addition to accreditation, a CEEDA award will include a comprehensive report on energy efficiency characteristics of a data center and an action plan detailing potential for further energy savings.