Upcoming Industry Events

Panel: How can BESS contribute to a sustainable future for data centers?

Track: Green Zone

Date: June 3, 2026, 13:45-14:30

Speaker: Andy Lawrence, Executive Director, Uptime Institute

Location: Discovery Stage

The global energy storage industry is growing steadily, fuelled by the world's transition to clean energy.  Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are emerging as a key technology to help data centres navigate the twin challenges of soaring power demand and sustainability. 

• Is BESS meeting the scale now required?
• How can BESS be best utilized – replacement for Diesel generators vs a primary power source

Retrofitting existing Tier-certified data centres for sustainability (solar power, green backup, energy efficiency)

Date: June 16, 2026 at 11:40 a.m.

Speaker: Jay Paidipati, Vice President, Energy and Sustainability Program Management, Uptime Institute

Panel Discussion: Is AI distracting us from the real benefits and uses of Colo’s?

Date: June 23, 2026 at 3:10 p.m.

Panelist: Eben Owen, Senior Director of Sales, Uptime Institute

Debate: Are our sustainability frameworks delivering real progress, or masking true the impact?

Date: September 16, 2026, 10:00-10:45 AM

Speaker: Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute

Infrastructure expansion is exposing the limits of established sustainability systems. Operators can secure strong results under LEED, BREEAM, and Scope 3 reporting while still missing the full environmental burden of rapid, large‑scale development. With Scope 3 now representing the majority of total emissions and tenant data is often estimated or unavailable, the reliability of these frameworks is increasingly questioned. The central issue is whether current standards still capture real‑world impact, or whether they have evolved into score‑optimisation mechanisms in a sector growing faster than its oversight tools.

This session will examine:

• Whether frameworks measure real environmental impact
• The limits of using generic building standards for data center design and operations
• How viable Scope 3 reporting is when colocation tenant data is opaque
• The need to include embodied carbon, biodiversity, and supply‑chain impacts in metrics
• Whether the sector can judge if frameworks deliver measurable real‑world outcomes

DCD>Debate: Machine‑led vs. human‑led - Who should run operations?

Date: October 26, 2026, 13:30 — 14:15

Speaker: Mustapha Louni, Chief Business Officer, Uptime Institute