Indian data centres highly vulnerable to climate risk: Report

More than 12% of data centres in India are projected to be at high climate risk by 2050 and the risk of damage to infrastructure from climate change induced extreme weather could almost triple (180%) from 2025-2100, finds a new report.

India’s five data centre hubs are in the top 100 global ranking—Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Hyderabad (Telangana)—said a new report by climate risk analytics firm XDI.

India is the dominant force in South Asia’s data centre landscape, accounting for the vast majority of the region’s capacity and investment. Its data centre industry is set to witness remarkable growth, with the expansion expected to drive a demand for 10 million sq. ft. of real estate space, attracting investments worth $5.7 billion.

The five cities mentioned above together host nearly all of India’s operational capacity. Mumbai alone holds 44%. Hyperscale operators like AWS, Microsoft, and Google are investing in new cloud regions, such as Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, while domestic players expand their colocation facilities.

As many as 228 data centres in India were analysed for this report. The 21 data centres in Uttar Pradesh are some of the most vulnerable to climate change-induced extreme weather in the world and a staggering 61.9% are already considered to be at high risk.

“It ranks 2nd in our global analysis of data centre hubs. The risk of damage to data centre infrastructure from climate change hazards is projected to more than double (111%) by the end of the century,” said the report.

In Maharashtra, 5.71% of data centres are projected to be at high risk by 2050, with the overall risk of damage to data centre infrastructure more than doubling (133%) by 2100.

In Tamil Nadu, where data centres are concentrated in Chennai, more than one in 10 are already at high risk and more than two-thirds are a moderate risk.