With growing world shortages of critical minerals and an escalation in demand for data center capacity and tech hardware, it’s essential for equipment manufacturers to take more responsibility in decarbonizing their supply chains - at scale and in a wholly sustainable way.

Data center owners and operators are uniquely positioned to step up and play a larger, more proactive role in this by pushing back on tech manufacturers in terms of the patchy emissions data they provide, while also facilitating sustainable circular IT product lifecycle management/disposal solutions for their users and customers.

From my own previous experience of founding and running a hyperscale operation for over ten years, I know most colocation data center operators are working hard to increase sustainability and reduce emissions. No doubt, the same applies to owners of modern on-prem facilities. But there’s still so much more to do. A circular economy is no longer just an environmental imperative - it is an economic and strategic one.

Scope for improvement

Meeting Scope 1 and 2 is one thing that is largely within the control of the enterprise or a data center operator. But Scope 3 emissions reporting calls for accountability across the entire supply/value chain. That’s going to be especially challenging for data centers, especially as AI propels even faster tech product updates and shorter refresh cycles.

Those that fall short may risk the potential of fines, reputational damage, and losing business. Those that succeed in comprehensively managing and continuously proving their carbon emission reduction credentials stand to gain a significant competitive advantage.

The hard truth, however, is that any data center striving to meet its own decarbonization goals and obligations cannot do so singlehandedly. It’s largely beholden to the supply chain stakeholders upstream. At the same time, their customers/users tend to accept ever shortening usage periods as the norm. Often, they overlook the benefits of achieving greater product longevity and optimal cost of ownership through the implementation of product maintenance, refurbishment, and reuse programmes.

The solution must lie in achieving a fully sustainable, truly circular, and accountable technology lifecycle and recycling management regime. This remains the major untapped area for the data center and IT industry as a whole to decarbonize in line with Scope 3.

A shared responsibility

Clearly, this presents a major challenge. All data centers are heavily impacted by the sustainability policies and actions of equipment manufacturers, distributors, systems integrators, and resellers. These need to be made much more accountable, especially considering the pre-use product lifecycle phase (product manufacturing to final delivery) accounts for 70 – 90 percent of total hardware equipment embodied carbon. That’s how much has been generated before the shiny new device is put to use!

Unfortunately, too many manufacturers remain lacking when it comes to offering modular upgrades of equipment, leading to the rip and replace culture for hardware assets such as servers, PCs, laptops, network kit, and cabling every three to five years. The underlying issue so far is that there’s little or no incentive (financial or legislative) for manufacturers or their customers to facilitate asset reuse or recycling. Therefore, they remain vested in selling ‘net new’ rather than extending the life of existing hardware equipment.

Such wastage is amplified by a prevailing strategy to minimise the cost associated with IT disposal rather than find ways of maximising reclamation of components and precious metals which, increasingly are in finite supply or the subject of geopolitical friction. Putting this into context, the UN has stated from the 62 million tons (Mt) of e-waste produced globally in 2022 (up 82 percent from 2010 and on track to rise to 82 million tons in 2030), less than one quarter was documented as having been properly collected and recycled, leaving $62 billion worth of recoverable natural resources unaccounted for and increasing pollution risks to communities worldwide.

Reinforcing the point, according to UK data, recycling one tonne of PCB boards can contain 40 to 800 times more gold – and 30 to 40 times more copper - than can be mined from one tonne of ore. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg; a single PCB can contain as many as 60 metals!

Taking the initiative

As a focal point for the enablement of the digital economy, data centers are ideally placed to take a much more active role: by lobbying manufacturers, educating users and customers about the necessity and benefits of changing conventional linear practices in favour of circular IT lifecycle management and recycling solutions.

Such an approach will not only help decarbonize data centers themselves but the entire tech industry supply chain – by reducing emissions. Equally, it will increase the feedstocks necessary for largescale recovery and reclamation of materials, including critical minerals currently being lost at an alarming and unacceptable rate.

Engaging directly with or facilitating the services of technology lifecycle and licensed WEE asset disposal (ITAD) providers can add significant value. These will help extend IT asset lifetimes by as much as another five years. And the majority of materials recovered from end of life products will be returned into the manufacturing supply stream, including those strategic metals and rare earths used in PCBs. There is also the added bonus of financial returns from residual product and component resale values.