Good topic — here’s a concise, practical overview of sustainable data centres in Europe: current policy landscape, typical sustainability measures/metrics, leading examples, and short recommendations for operators or customers.

1. Why sustainability matters in Europe (short)

• Data centres account for ~3% of EU electricity demand and are projected to grow with AI and cloud services; this is driving EU-level action to increase transparency and efficiency. (energy.ec.europa.eu)

2. EU policy & reporting you should know

• Common EU rating scheme / delegated regulation (2024): operators of data centres ≥500 kW must report defined KPIs to a European database (first reporting deadlines began in 2024–2025). This creates harmonised sustainability metrics across the Union. (eur-lex.europa.eu)
• European Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres (voluntary best-practices) — widely used guidance and a reference for the EU Taxonomy and public procurement. Updated best-practice guidance and awards are published regularly. (joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu)

3. Key sustainability measures & metrics (what to track)

• Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) — overall facility energy efficiency.
• Carbon accounting / grid-sourced emission factor and renewable energy attribution (PPAs, Guarantees of Origin).
• Waste-heat capture & reuse (district heating, industry/greenhouses, pools).
• Water usage effectiveness (WUE) and use of free-cooling (air-side or water-side economizers).
• IT equipment lifecycle & circularity (server refresh policies, reuse/recycling, procurement that follows Ecodesign rules).
• Resilience vs. efficiency trade-offs (right-sizing UPS/gensets, electrical efficiency, modular design).
  These are exactly the kinds of KPIs being standardised for EU reporting. (energy.ec.europa.eu)

4. Proven sustainable approaches happening across Europe

• Waste heat recovery into district heating networks or local buildings (housing, pools, retail): several projects in Scandinavia, Finland, Sweden, the UK, France and Ireland reuse large shares of data-centre heat. These projects both cut city emissions and increase overall energy efficiency. (WeForum.org)
• “Cold climate + clean grid” sites in the Nordics (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland) are favoured because of cheap low-carbon power and natural cooling; major cloud providers are expanding there and signing heat-reuse deals. (reuters.com)
• Fuel switching and operational changes (e.g., replacing diesel with HVO or using on-site batteries) are being piloted to lower operational carbon. (globenewswire.com)

5. Examples (representative, not exhaustive)

• Microsoft: large Finnish region projects, heat-reuse partnerships and investment driven by “power-first” site selection. (reuters.com)
• Equinix (Paris PA10): waste heat delivered to a local Olympic Aquatics Centre / district network. (wired.com)
• Nordic & specialist operators (e.g., DigiPlex, Nebius, EcoDataCenter, Verne Global / atNorth) have explicit heat-reuse or low-carbon-power models. (WeForum.org)

6. Certifications, standards and voluntary frameworks to use

• EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (best practices). (joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu)
• ISO 50001 (energy management), BREEAM / LEED (site/building sustainability), and supplier green PPA/GOs for renewable attribution.
• EU Taxonomy and Ecodesign rules increasingly affect procurement and “green” claims — data centre services can be referenced in climate delegated acts. (eu.boell.org)

7. Practical steps for operators or customers (quick checklist)

• Measure baseline: PUE, energy mix, WUE, heat export potential, IT utilisation. (EU reporting now mandates standard KPIs.) (eur-lex.europa.eu)
• Prioritise: 1) source low-carbon power (PPAs/GOs); 2) optimise IT efficiency (higher server utilisation, right-sizing); 3) adopt free-cooling and water-efficient cooling; 4) design for waste-heat recovery / district heating where feasible; 5) apply energy-management standards (ISO 50001). (joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu)
• Consider site selection trade-offs: cold climate + high renewable share vs. latency/market proximity. (reuters.com)
• Track and publish KPIs to comply with EU schemes and to make procurement/sustainability claims defensible. (energy.ec.europa.eu)

8. Risks, trade-offs & watchdog notes

• Reusing heat is helpful but not a substitute for reducing overall energy demand — regulators and NGOs warn against treating heat reuse as a justification for unbounded data-centre growth (rebound effect). Transparent reporting is essential. (eu.boell.org)

9. Short recommendations for a Netherlands perspective

• The Netherlands is centrally connected (good latency) but has a denser grid and higher local heat demand: explore partnerships with municipal district heating projects and look for local utility PPA options. Evaluate whether colocating in Nordics for very large AI workloads (power-first) or hosting locally with heat reuse is better for your latency, cost and sustainability trade-offs. (If you’d like, I can run a quick comparative matrix for your specific needs.) (reuters.com)

If you want, I can:

• Map specific European data-centre projects that do heat recovery and their partners (city/utility names).
• Create a one-page KPI template (PUE, WUE, % renewable, heat recovered) you can use for reporting to the EU scheme.
• Compare three site options (Netherlands vs. Finland vs. Ireland) for a hypothetical 2 MW IT load (energy mix, cooling, heat reuse potential, latency).

Which follow-up would be most useful?