The EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (EU DC CoC) is an initiative of the European Union intended to promote sustainable IT infrastructure in the EU. Its objective is to reduce energy consumption at data centres, and thus their environmental impact, without compromising their performance capacity.
- The Code of Conduct primarily addresses the operators and owners of data centres, as well as companies that have outsourced their IT to leased colocation space. The initiative refers to these entities as „Participants“.
- Providers of IT services, colocation and other services, manufacturers and independent experts who base their solutions and services on the best practice strategies of the Code for energy efficiency and establish these strategies at their clients may also support the initiative as „Endorsers“.
- q.beyond is both a Code Participant and a Code Endorser.
The Code sets out a collection of best practices, benchmarks and recommendations in various areas that enable significant improvements to be achieved in data centre energy efficiency. These include:
- energy efficient hardware and software: recommendations for deploying energy efficient servers, storage systems and network equipment, as well as measures to optimise software applications;
- cooling and airflow: strategies to improve cooling and reduce the energy required for heat regulation at data centres;
- energy monitoring and control: introducing energy management systems and energy monitoring to analyse consumption and identify potential savings;
- virtualisation and consolidation: deploying virtualisation technologies to maximise server capacity utilisation and thus reduce energy consumption;
- renewable energies: integrating renewable energy sources to lower the share of fossil fuels in the energy mix.
Companies that voluntarily participate in the Code commit to complying with the stipulated guidelines and report their energy efficiency progress each year to the Joint Research Commission of the European Union. The EU Commission reviews compliance with the defined minimum criteria and the effectiveness of optimisation measures and, should the review produce positive results, renews the company’s status as a Participant.
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