Digital Realty's Swiss Data Centre Raises Sustainability Bar

Digital Realty’s Zurich data centre has become the first facility to receive the Swiss Datacenter Efficiency Association’s new PLATINUM Plus certification, marking a milestone for operational sustainability standards in the Swiss data centre market.

The company’s ZUR2 site achieved the highest distinction available under the SDEA’s independently verified framework, which measures live operational performance.

The certification evaluates facilities against metrics including power usage effectiveness (PUE), carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) and water usage effectiveness (WUE).

Digital Realty said the facility recorded a PUE of 1.10, CUE of 0.02 and WUE of 0.00, positioning the site among the most operationally efficient data centres in Switzerland.

Operational performance under scrutiny

The certification arrives as operators face growing pressure from enterprise customers and regulators to demonstrate measurable environmental performance across data centre infrastructure.

Demand for transparency around energy consumption and water use has intensified as hyperscale and colocation providers continue expanding capacity across Europe, particularly in markets where sustainability requirements are becoming more stringent.

“Achieving the first-ever PLATINUM Plus certification is a significant milestone for Digital Realty and a testament to our commitment to sustainability-driven innovation,” says Yves Zischek, Managing Director of Digital Realty in Switzerland.

“ZUR2 exemplifies how operational excellence and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand, delivering measurable impact for our customers and communities.”

Unlike broader sustainability accreditations that assess planned efficiencies or building specifications, the SDEA framework focuses on operational data gathered from running facilities.

The organisation says this creates a clearer benchmark for comparing environmental performance across the industry.

New benchmark for Swiss facilities

The SDEA described the certification as a new high-water mark for efficiency in live data centre environments.

“PLATINUM Plus is a first – not just for Digital Realty, but for SDEA,” says SDEA President Babak Falsafi.

“This level of performance represents the highest standard of data center efficiency currently achievable and demonstrates what is possible through rigorous measurement and continuous optimisation.”

Digital Realty operates one of the world’s largest cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre platforms.

The company said the Zurich certification forms part of its wider sustainability strategy focused on operational transparency and efficiency improvements across its global portfolio.