Data centers, the giant facilities that form the backbone of the internet, soon will fall under more scrutiny as climate risk disclosure rules and investor expectations put more pressure on tech to reduce its environmental footprint.

With the rise of social media, video streaming, self-driving vehicles and generative artificial intelligence tools, the amount of digital data being created, replicated and processed every year is escalating, and with it the global demand for storage. The market research firm International Data Corp. estimates that the “datasphere” will grow to 175 zettabytes by 2025, likening the world’s entire data collection to a stack of DVDs that could circle the Earth 222 times.