When it comes to environmental protection and sustainability, the federal data centers are lagging behind the goals the traffic light coalition has set itself. The database for environmental statistics is also said to be inadequate.
The future topics of climate protection and digitalization are neglected in the federal data centers. When it comes to environmental protection and sustainability, the traffic light coalition’s self-imposed goals are not being achieved. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a parliamentary question from the Left.
The environmental statistics for the data centers are also based on a shaky database. Neither electricity consumption nor the proportion of green electricity is known for every fourth federal system.
The left-wing MP Anke Domscheit-Berg complained about a lack of transparency: “As long as the traffic light continues to have this blatant structural information deficit, it will not be able to achieve any of its sustainability goals for its IT.” Without sensible data you cannot control well.
From 2027 only renewable energy
Compared to a similar request from 2022, there is at least a slight improvement. 74 of a total of 118 data centers now use renewable energy. A year ago there were only 52 systems. However, an improvement in the share of renewable energy can only be seen in four systems.
In the paper, the federal government points out that data center operators have been obliged to cover 50 percent of their electricity consumption with electricity from renewable energies from January 1, 2024. By 2027, the systems are to be operated with 100 percent electricity from renewable energies.
“Blue Angel” is not a standard
As was the case a year ago, the federal government’s responses to the sustainability of federal IT show that the federal environmental label “Blue Angel” hardly plays a role. The seal has been promoted by the federal government for over 40 years to recognize environmentally friendly products and services. The traffic light coalition’s coalition agreement states: “Certifications such as the ‘Blue Angel’ standard are required for federal IT procurement.”
A year ago, not a single federal data center met all eight “Blue Angel” criteria. Two data centers now have the certificate, but only according to an evaluation method that is now outdated. For the current version of the “Blue Angel” 21 instead of eight criteria must be met. Currently, no federal system can do this. Only five percent said they fulfilled at least half. At the top is a data center that meets 17 of 21 criteria.
When it comes to using the waste heat that inevitably arises in data centers when operating servers and other IT components, the previous Left faction even sees a deterioration compared to the previous year. Only eleven of 118 systems then used the waste heat in some form; in 2022 there were still 14.