Majority of datacenters are vulnerable to climate threats like floods and fires, study finds

Amid rising concern that the artificial intelligence boom is fueling the climate crisis, a new report has found that nearly 80% of datacenters are also exposed to extreme climate hazards, including flooding, extreme winds and wildfires. Those impacts are leaving the infrastructure vulnerable to disrupted operations, increased time offline and inflated insurance and repair costs, the research from climate risk analytics firm First Street shows. “Where you build a data center determines a large share of what it will cost to run for the next 20 or 30 years,” said Jeremy Porter, chief economist at First Street, in a press release. “Climate is a big part of that: cooling, water, and reliability all depend on location. But most valuations still focus on growth and treat climate as a secondary concern.” Chronic climate risk factors, including routine extreme heat and drought, also impact 54% of datacenter markets globally. These chronic risks, too, can disrupt operations and boost the cost of insurance. “Most underwriting for real assets still uses historical data, but the climate is no longer behaving the way the historical record would predict,” said Matthew Eby, founder and CEO of First Street, said in the release. “As heat, drought, and water stress increase, outdated models simply don’t offer a complete view of risk anymore.” The report examined 97 global datacenter markets and found that some are more vulnerable to acute and chronic climate risks than others. …