Ecolab’s Strategy for Data Centre Water Efficiency

Ecolab is increasing its focus on data centre operations and AI infrastructure as operators face rising pressure around water use, energy demand and emissions reduction.

In its 2025 Growth & Impact Report, the company outlines how water management, digital monitoring and cooling technologies are being deployed to support AI-driven infrastructure growth while reducing operational resource intensity.

Ecolab says the rapid expansion of AI workloads is creating new demands on energy systems and cooling infrastructure.

According to the company, data centres supporting AI are projected to consume more than one trillion gallons of freshwater annually by 2027.

The company is responding with technologies designed to improve water efficiency and cooling performance across digital infrastructure environments, including its 3D TRASAR monitoring platform and Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling systems.

AI growth increases cooling pressure

AI infrastructure is placing greater pressure on cooling systems as operators deploy denser compute environments for training and inference workloads.

These environments require higher power levels and generate larger thermal loads than traditional enterprise IT infrastructure.

Ecolab says its approach combines continuous water monitoring with AI-enabled operational insights to help improve cooling efficiency and system reliability.

The company describes this as a “site-to-chip” strategy, where monitoring technologies analyse water quality and cooling conditions across infrastructure environments to optimise operations and reduce waste.

Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling systems move heat away from processors using liquid cooling loops connected directly to computing components.

This reduces the need for large-scale air cooling while supporting higher rack densities.

Ecolab states that it is targeting a 40% improvement in water use efficiency across its business operations as part of its wider sustainability objectives.

Christophe Beck, Chairman, President and CEO of Ecolab, says: “Water is the foundation of life and business.

“We cannot create more water, but we can reimagine how we use it.

“Companies that act decisively, apply proven solutions and work in partnership will lead the next era of growth.”

Energy efficiency and emissions reduction

Alongside water management, Ecolab says energy efficiency remains central to its climate strategy.

The company reports that it helped customers avoid 4.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions during 2025 through energy-saving technologies and operational optimisation programmes.

Within its own operations, Ecolab says it has reduced absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 44% from its 2018 baseline.

The company also states that 92% of its global operations are now powered by renewable electricity through a combination of solar energy, geothermal systems and renewable supply agreements.

By 2030, Ecolab aims to reduce operational emissions by 50%, transition global operations to 100% renewable electricity and reduce value chain emissions by 25%.

For data centre operators, energy and cooling efficiency are becoming increasingly linked as AI deployments raise infrastructure power consumption.

Cooling systems account for a substantial portion of data centre energy use, particularly within high-density AI environments.

Emilio Tenuta, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Ecolab, says: “At Ecolab, we help customers succeed in a challenging environment by making their operations smarter, more resilient and more productive, turning resource complexity into enterprise value.

“Our 2030 Customer Impact Goals reflect that discipline.”

Supply chains and resource management

The report also highlights Ecolab’s wider sustainability initiatives around packaging waste circularity and supply chain operations.

The company says it avoided 49 million pounds of packaging waste during 2025 through packaging reduction measures and concentrated product formats.

Its ReadyDose product line uses solid tablets designed to reduce plastic packaging waste by 98.8% compared with equivalent liquid products.

Ecolab also reports spending US$533m with certified underrepresented suppliers during 2025 while maintaining local sourcing strategies across operating markets.

The company says 90% of purchases are made within local operating regions to improve supply chain resilience and reduce transport-related resource intensity.

Christophe says: “Ecolab helped protect 1.7 billion people from foodborne illnesses and infections and conserve enough water to meet the drinking needs of 849 million people.

“Yet by 2030, the world is projected to face a 56% freshwater shortfall, even before accounting for new demand driven by AI, data centres and advanced manufacturing.”