Science Based Targets Initiative Drops Proposal for Stricter Data Center Emissions Rules

The Science Based Targets initiative has dropped a proposed rule that could have accelerated cuts to carbon dioxide emissions from data centers, according to a report by The Financial Times. A corporate climate watchdog, the Science Based Targets initiative, decided against recommending a protocol that would have made it more difficult for companies to use clean energy investments to offset fossil fuel pollution from data centers.

The proposal was based on guidance from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is used in Europe and California. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol has stated that both fossil fuel power and offsetting green energy should be produced in the same market at around the same time.

That approach would help ensure accurate reporting and create a credible link between companies and their energy sources.

To meet electricity needs for new data centers built to support artificial intelligence, companies including Amazon and Meta have installed gas turbines in parts of the United States where local power supply is insufficient. These turbines are highly polluting.

The companies have offset those emissions by purchasing certificates backed by wind, solar and other green power projects. The certificates can apply even if the renewable projects are in different states or generate power at different times of day.

For example, a gas-powered data center operating at night in Texas can use certificates from solar energy purchased during the day in California.

" The groups argued that rules requiring time- and location-based matching of energy should remain optional because stricter requirements could discourage clean energy investments. Google took a different position and argued in favor of hourly clean-energy matching.

The company is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world.

Multiple research groups, including Princeton University's Low-Carbon Technology Consortium and the European Union, have stated that hourly energy offset accounting could reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly faster than the current system. The Science Based Targets initiative had proposed that companies use certificates representing clean energy produced in the same time frame as the fossil fuel energy consumed.

Following the lobbying, the organization decided not to move forward with that recommendation. The change leaves in place the existing system for offsetting emissions from gas-powered data centers.