Kao Data_ESG Report 25-26_SP - Flipbook - Page 25
Introduction
Environmental
Social Sustainability
Responsible water
stewardship
Our approach
At Kao Data we are committed to being responsible
stewards of water to support the resiliency of our
customers and communities. Kao Data is also a
signatory to the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact
(CNDCP) which includes de昀椀ned targets for WUE2.
Before any development we perform rigorous water
risk assessments, and have shifted our cooling strategy
from liquid-based cooling to hybrid and dry aircooling systems helping us greatly improve our water
usage ef昀椀ciency (WUE) while reducing potable water
consumption.
Read more in our Environment & energy policy
1
Governance
“At our new Harlow based KLON-03 facility we have
harnessed new cooling systems that have minimised
potable water consumption and delivered an ultra
low WUE 昀椀gure, setting a new benchmark for water
ef昀椀ciency at Kao Data. Furthermore, KLON-03 delivers
twice the compute capacity and a lower annualised
PUE, when benchmarked against typical UK adiabatic
data centre designs.”
Richard Collar, VP of Customer solutions, Kao Data
Water risks in focus
Water scarcity in context
According to a new techUK report, water
infrastructure reliance is a material and
growing risk to data centres. While power
scarcity is the single most signi昀椀cant limiting
factor on hyperscale expansion3, the related
risk of stranded power is also coming under
focus. This situation arises when power
capacity cannot be matched with suf昀椀cient
cooling measures, leaving power capacity
unused, negatively affecting PUE and
customer scalability. As part of work with
techUK and its ESG + working group, we
are working with the Environment Agency
to further understand water risks and
opportunities, using site-based technology
to continue monitoring and improving
sector responses over time. You can read
more about our techUK1 collaboration in the
governance section of this report.
With water scarcity being a focus among
many UK communities there is a perception
that data centres are huge drains on potable
water. While Kao Data recognises that water
scarcity is a risk we must be prepared for,
we think it is essential that stakeholders
understand the wider context. According
to 昀椀gures from techUK, data centres use
only 0.2% of potable water supplies in the
UK. When compared to an industry such as
catering which uses 6.8% of potable water,
data centres are presently a negligible
burden on water consumption. What is more
important currently is the timing of data
centre water usage during periods of stress
such as during summer droughts. You can
read more about how we address this speci昀椀c
risk in ‘Adaptive water management’ on the
next page of this report.
https://www.techuk.org/resource/future-proo昀椀ng-digital-infrastructure-climate-resilience-in-the-data-centre-sector.html
2
Under CNDCP Pact, new data centres built in cool climates that use potable water are designed to meet a maximum WUE of (0.4 L/kWh). Existing data centres are also required to meet these
ambitious WUE benchmarks by the end of 2040, especially when undergoing cooling system upgrades. https://www.waternewseurope.com/european-data-centres-lead-on-water-conservation/
3
https://www.eudca.org/documents/content/ZlZXb4bRSRefaEVqya2I_Aoea?download=0
Kao Data ESG Report 2025-26
25
