{"id":1004758755,"date":"2025-05-21T03:50:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T11:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004758755"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:49:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T19:49:28","slug":"exploring-esg-in-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"GBI Special Report: Exploring ESG in Data Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The data center industry will face multiple challenges and changes over the next several years, such as sustainability and a shrinking workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those issues were the focus of The Better Buildings Seminar: Data Centers, a program hosted by Green Buildings Initiative in Chicago\u2019s historic Fulton Market district. The crowd-pleasing mid-morning session, titled ESG in Data Centers: Opportunities, Challenges and Workforce Development, brought together a panel of experts to address the technical advances driving sustainability in design and operations, as well as the sector\u2019s workforce hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"620\" data-attachment-id=\"1004758770\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/gbi-conference-featured\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,620\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"GBI Conference featured\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Crowd shot at the GBI Conference. Image by Jeffrey Steele for Commercial Property Executive &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg?w=800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\" alt=\"Crowd shot at the Green Buildings Initiative conference, May 2025\" class=\"wp-image-1004758770\" style=\"width:400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg?resize=300,233 300w, https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg?resize=768,595 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Crowd shot of the GBI Conference. <em>Image by Jeffrey Steele for Commercial Property Executive<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Miranda Gardiner, executive director, Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) Climate Accord and Courtney Popp, director of education programs for iMasons, hammered home the immense scope of the hiring challenges facing the data center industry. Some 300,000 people will be needed to join the digital workforce in coming years, and half those currently working in the industry will be leaving the workforce within the next 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity has-very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray-gradient-background has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>READ ALSO<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cpe-roundtable-using-ai-for-investment\/\">There\u2019s More AI in Investment Than Meets the Eye<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity has-very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray-gradient-background has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe sustainability of talent pipelines is as important as the sustainability of materials and energy,\u201d Popp said. \u201cOnly about 40 percent of Americans have a four-year college degree or better, but this industry doesn\u2019t require that degree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this year, iMasons debuted its Job-Matching Platform for the digital infrastructure industry, assessing job postings from partner companies and aligning them to job seekers\u2019 skillsets, to connect talent to leading digital infrastructure firms, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-boring-solutions\">Boring solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Sara Neff, partner &amp; general manager for sustainability, Cloud Operations + Innovation with Microsoft, drew repeated laughs from the audience as she poked fun at the common perceptions of data centers and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/how-ai-is-pushing-cloud-data-center-providers-to-scale-up\/\">digital infrastructure<\/a>. \u201cMicrosoft has not backed off any of its carbon-free energy goals, thank you,\u201d she asserted to start her talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have two tween daughters, and they think I\u2019m super boring. Their eyes glaze right over, which is sad because I want to fight for climate for them. But I\u2019m so into boring, and have a very soft spot for boring AI solutions that can help us make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among other attributes, AI can scale, and AI can have a very big carbon impact, she said. When it comes to scaling, AI is very good at detecting leaks, when for instance cooling towers are using more water than anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turning to big carbon impacts, AI is excellent in helping concrete become more sustainable. Were it a country, concrete would have the third most emissions after the U.S. and China. Compass Datacenters has been using AI to optimize the soup of cement, aggregate and water for major carbon impact, Neff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know everyone in this room has an idea for using AI in a boring way to make an impact,\u201d she concluded. \u201cBoring is the new exciting, which is exciting in itself. And maybe someday I\u2019ll even get my daughters to agree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-everyday-people\">Everyday people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked what is being overlooked in the quest for sustainability, Reine Rambert, manager of global public affairs with Invenergy, cited a favorite quote. \u201cWhen we\u2019re thinking about sustainability and climate change, we need to bring together people concerned about the end of the world with people concerned about the end of the month,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many people are forced to fret about ensuring the end of the money doesn\u2019t occur before the conclusion of the month. \u201cUnless we can connect it back to everyday people and meeting them where they are, the effort will fail,\u201d Rambert said. \u201cWe also have to build more career paths for people into the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked how greater numbers of talented people can be pulled into the workforce, Popp noted military spouses may be an untapped pool of talent for the industry. \u201cThe majority of the military is male, their spouses are women and there\u2019s opportunity to gain more diversity there,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s also a misconception you need technical skills to work in data centers. If you\u2019re not super technical, there\u2019s still a place for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another source of talent may be the moms who stayed home to raise kids during Covid. \u201cStay-at-home mom, I\u2019ll get that into our job searching platform,\u201d Popp said. \u201cThey have scheduling talents, multi-tasking talents. They\u2019ve got everything we need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Green Buildings Initiative panel tackles tech-driven sustainability and workforce challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":1004758770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21755,23891,21742,21785,21786,21787],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004758755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-centers","category-national","category-latest","category-property-management","category-sustainability","category-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GBI Special Report: Exploring ESG in Data Centers - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Green Buildings Initiative panel on workforce hurdles and the technical advances driving sustainability in data center design and operations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GBI Special Report: Exploring ESG in Data Centers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Green Buildings Initiative panel on workforce hurdles and the technical advances driving sustainability in data center design and operations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-21T11:50:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T19:49:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey Steele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/\",\"name\":\"GBI Special Report: Exploring ESG in Data Centers - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-21T11:50:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-29T19:49:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d331e0059e00242bd623aa07925cd418\"},\"description\":\"Green Buildings Initiative panel on workforce hurdles and the technical advances driving sustainability in data center design and operations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/exploring-esg-in-data-centers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GBI-Conference-featured.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":620,\"caption\":\"Crowd shot at the GBI Conference. 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