Meta Sustainability: Data Centers

Overview

The page says next-generation AI-oriented designs need fewer square feet per unit of compute. On construction it gives two concrete practices: low-carbon concrete that substitutes fly ash and slag for cement, and AI-optimised mixes. In 2025 a mass-timber pilot was also built as the administration building at Aiken, South Carolina. The most operationally useful item is the approval of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as a diesel replacement for backup generators. Clonee in Ireland was first, and the approval was expanded to five more North American sites in early 2025.

The fuel switch is presented as an option that does not require changing the generator hardware. These steps are tied to two goals for 2030: net zero across the value chain and water positive. The page is a corporate sustainability summary and carries no numeric data for engineering calculations, such as HVO lifecycle emission factors, cement substitution rates or cooling water volumes. It should be used as a reference for practices and direction rather than as a calculation input.

Substituting fly ash and slag in concrete aims to cut embodied carbon by reducing the amount of cement while keeping the same structural function. The mass-timber pilot is only at the scale of one administration building; the page does not present it as applied to a data hall structure. The expansion of the HVO approval to five more sites in early 2025 shows the fuel change was not limited to a single pilot site.

Key points

1. HVO approved as diesel replacement for backup generators; Clonee (Ireland) first, expanded to five more North American sites in early 2025.
2. Low-carbon concrete through cement substitution (fly ash, slag) and AI-optimised mixes.
3. Mass timber piloted in 2025 in the Aiken, SC administration building.
4. New AI-oriented designs need fewer square feet per unit of compute.
5. Goals: net zero across the value chain and water positive in 2030.
6. The page gives no lifecycle emission factor for HVO.

Using it in design

• Add a fuel-type parameter to the generator catalog {diesel, HVO, natural gas, dual-fuel}, with HVO as a drop-in option for the same genset.
• Do not take the HVO lifecycle emission factor from this source; make it a user-editable parameter.
• In the embodied-carbon module, let users pick a concrete mix with a SCM (cement substitution) percentage that adjusts embodied carbon.

Who should read it

Sustainability and design teams who reference embodied-carbon, backup-fuel and water goals for data centers.

Related standards

• GHG Protocol
• EN 15978

Publication details

Authors

Meta

Publisher

Meta

Year

2026

Document language

English

Source type

Expert / community

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation