Uptime Institute debuts sustainability-focused accreditation for datacentre professionals

The Uptime Institute is continuing to build out the support it can offer datacentre managers and operators that need to hone their sustainability strategies, with the roll-out of a new accreditation.

The datacentre resiliency think tank’s Accredited Sustainability Advisor (ASA) course is geared towards providing participants with the knowledge and practical skills they need to create and manage a sustainability strategy on behalf of their organisation. 

According to Uptime, the accreditation is intended to help participants ensure how their sites operate aligns with the growing number of sustainability regulations that are being rolled out across the globe to slow the pace of climate change and global warming.

“More than 70 countries have established commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gases by 2050,” said Uptime, in a statement.

“New regulations are proliferating worldwide, with hundreds of pieces of climate change and sustainability legislation, standards and requirements enacted over the past 10 years.

“As demand for senior-level datacentre professionals and IT/facility engineers with advanced sustainability expertise continues to rise, sustainability skillsets have never been more valuable or impactful,” it added.

The instructor-led ASA course contains 11 modules, covering sustainability policy and management, regulatory requirements for datacentres, and as well as others detailing the steps operators must take to track greenhouse gas emissions, the water consumption habits of their facilities, and how much energy they consume.

The first ASA course begins on 23 May and includes four half-day sessions of instructions and exercises, confirmed Uptime, before concluding with a proctored examination on day five.

Operators will also have the option to participate in private versions of the ASA course if they want to create exclusive corporate learning and development programs for ongoing employee education, added Uptime.

“With the growing effects of climate change on health, safety and global economies, world-class digital infrastructure owners and operators require hands-on, practical training to build a comprehensive and fully actionable sustainability strategy,” said Christopher M. Hill, global head of product management at Uptime Institute.

“Our course ensures participants graduate with the skills necessary to lead their organisations in achieving sustainability objectives, both now and into the future.”

The accreditation is part of a growing number of sustainability-focused training and education initiatives Uptime is rolling out to datacentre managers and operators, as the impact that server farms have on the environment comes under increasing scrutiny from governments and regulators.

As reported by Computer Weekly in April 2022, the organisation recently went public with its plans to publish a series of six reports that are intended to guide infrastructure operators through what they must do to plot their own path to operating sustainably.

The first of these six reports is already live, and is focused on providing guidance on what environmental elements operators should be looking to improve on within their datacentres, as well as detailing the steps they should take to track their progress.