Lenovo: Data Centre Regulations to Transform Sustainability

Whilst operators are wrestling with the new power and energy demands of the technology, they are also having to confront a looming regulatory landscape. Notably, operators are obliged by May 2025 to provide the European database all sustainability information and KPUs for the data centres they operate, whether that’s enterprise, colocation or otherwise.

In considering this, Ian Jeffs, UK&I Country General Manager at Lenovo, outlines how sustainability regulations are fundamentally transforming data centre operations globally. He explains that while the industry has historically focused on facility design and cooling optimisation, new regulations demand a more comprehensive approach. 

He also showcases the company’s Neptune water-cooling technology and its role in reducing energy consumption by 40%. With this in mind, he advocates for a holistic approach to sustainability that incorporates renewable energy, waste reduction and the continuous evaluation of environmental impact.

How do you expect sustainability regulations to impact the global data centre sector?

Over the years, the data centre industry has been resolving sustainability challenges through facility design, choosing locations and efforts to better manage cooling. 

Yet, these tactics are no longer sufficient, and sustainability regulations that are coming into force require operators to rapidly transform their approach to sustainability. 

This will mean implementing new management and reporting strategies, exploring new technologies that will help them reduce cost, increase efficiency, and stay compliant with these regulatory changes.

How has a renewed focus on sustainability changed your company's approach to supply chain management?

Lenovo has several science-based ESG initiatives and is very serious about meeting these goals. 

Over the years, we have created internal systems, controls, data collection and dashboards to holistically evaluate how Lenovo is creating carbon emissions in our factories. We call it our ESG Navigator, essentially a digital twin view of our factories to evaluate carbon, energy and water use. 

Our ESG Navigator has since helped us to hold our suppliers accountable for their Scope Three emissions and coach them on how to evaluate their own output. 

As our suppliers became increasingly concerned with the carbon footprint they’re generating, we have also created LISSA (Lenovo Intelligent Sustainability Solutions Advisor). This automates data collection across a manufacturing site and delivers a near-real-time view of its sustainability performance. 

This way customers can evaluate where they can improve their footprint and make optimisations for their business. 

Can you share an example of a successful sustainable strategy that has significantly optimised your supply chain operations?

Innovation is the key to a sustainable future and smarter infrastructure is critical to improving efficiencies that contribute to sustainability goals and business performance. Lenovo constantly strives for innovation with the ambition of championing sustainability in the industry. 

Our innovations are already helping customers reduce costs through optimisation, while also lowering emissions. For example, traditional air-cooled data centres require an enormous amount of energy, and some of this power is used solely to operate fans to cool the servers, instead of being used to move, store or compute data. 

It’s one of the reasons we’ve developed our Neptune water-cooling system, which allows data centres to operate up to 40% more efficiently. 

Embracing supply chain intelligence has also helped us optimise the supply chain. To pre-empt and mitigate supply chain risks in global markets, Lenovo created Supply Chain Intelligence (SCI)—an AI-powered solution that continuously analyses supply chain data to identify potential issues and resolve them in real time. 

This helps navigate the issues associated with siloed operations. 

What advice would you give to other data centre companies looking to optimise their supply chains through sustainable practices?

Organisations need to adopt sustainable practices across different aspects of their business.

This can include using renewable energy sources, optimising energy and water consumption, reducing waste through recycling and responsible disposal, embracing eco-friendly packaging, and sourcing sustainable materials. 

By conducting regular comprehensive evaluations, companies can learn to understand the environmental and social implications of their practices more effectively. This will empower them to identify further areas of improvement and prioritise initiatives based on their potential impact and feasibility.

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