More than 12% of Indian data centres at risk from extreme weather events: Study

The data centres in Uttar Pradesh are likely to be some of the most vulnerable in the world, the analysis suggests. Those in Maharashtra, Telangana (Hyderabad), Karnataka (Bengaluru), and Tamil Nadu (Chennai) are also at risk from climate change hazards.

This risk of damage to data centre infrastructure might more than double (111 per cent) by the end of the century, says the report by XDI (Cross Dependency Initiative), an international company which assesses the cost of climate change impacts on physical assets.

Data centres are at the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution, and power services such as banking systems and cloud storage. As the backbone of modern digital infrastructure, these facilities are expected to dramatically rise in numbers across the globe in the coming years. For instance, in India—which has emerged as a foremost data centre hub in South Asia—the data centre industry can attract investments worth $5.7 billion.

However, this critical infrastructure is under serious threat from climate change and its adverse impact. Extreme weather events can significantly damage data centres around the world, leading to disruption in services and substantial financial loss, as per the report.

Apart from India, data centres in other countries such as the United States, China, Germany, Denmark, and Japan are also vulnerable. For example, between 20 per cent and 64 per cent of these facilities in New Jersey, Hamburg, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Moskva, Bangkok, and Hovedstaden are at high risk of physical damage from climate change hazards by 2050, according to the report.

The ‘2025 Global Data Centre Physical Climate Risk and Adaptation Report’ was released on Thursday. The company XDI examined the risk to nearly 9,000 data centres—which are operational, under construction and planned—globally, including 228 in India. It analysed how eight different types of climate change hazards, under a high emissions scenario from now until the end of the century, would pose a threat to these facilities.

The company then categorised data centres into high, moderate, and low-risk properties. These classifications were calculated by determining each property’s probability of incurring direct financial loss from climate-related damage to infrastructure in any given year, and were expressed as a percentage of the replacement cost of each building, the report said.

The analysis emphasised that there was an urgent need to make data centres resilient to extreme weather events. This can be done, for example, by modifying building designs and incorporating structural adaptation measures. Taking these steps can reduce the number of high-risk data centres by more than two-thirds in 2050, the report suggests.

“When so much depends on this critical infrastructure — and with the sector growing exponentially — operators, investors, and governments can’t afford to be flying blind. Our analysis helps them see the global picture, identify where resilience investments are most needed, and chart pathways to reduce risk,” Karl Mallon, founder of XDI, said in a statement.