Could Data Centers Be the Low-Carbon Heat Source That Communities Need?

We’ve all heard how AI is driving increased demand for data centers. We’ve also heard how more data centers equals more demand for energy. But what if there was a way for data centers to reduce the energy needed to heat homes and businesses? Fortunately, there is such a way. The best part is that it uses the same heat that servers already create as they power our digital lives.

Data center heat export is a process where facilities transfer their residual heat for reuse in the local community. This exported heat provides a clean, cost-efficient alternative to traditional fossil fuel sources.

This is just one example of how data center operators are fulfilling their responsibilities to use energy more efficiently and make a positive impact in our communities. In 2025, Equinix exported 19 GWh of residual heat from our data centers, heating everything from homes in Helsinki to a swimming pool at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Paris.

Recently, together with leading local energy producer A2A Group, we announced the start of an industrial collaboration dedicated to the recovery and export of heat generated by our data centers in Settimo Milanese, in the metropolitan city of Milan.

We’re excited about what this project means for the city. We view it as a blueprint for what’s possible when data center operators take a community-first approach and seek out innovative partners to help them execute.

Data centers are bringing low-carbon heat to more people in more places

Our partnership with A2A is significant because it’s expected to become the largest heat-recovery project outside of the Nordic countries. Sweden and Finland are ahead of the curve because they’ve been prioritizing energy security for decades by investing in their heat network infrastructure. For instance, Equinix pioneered the concept of data center heat export in Helsinki back in 2010. However, initiatives of this scale have traditionally been uncommon across the rest of Europe.

Once fully operational, the project will recover up to 225 GWh of thermal energy per year from our campus in Settimo Milanese. This will increase the heat distributed through A2A Group’s Milan district heating network by about 20%. This recovered energy will be sufficient to meet the heating needs of more than 21,000 homes. It will also deliver a significant environmental benefit for the city by avoiding more than 345,000 tons of CO₂ emissions—equivalent to the annual CO₂ absorption of approximately 220,000 trees.

At the same time, A2A will expand their district heating network, enabling the distribution of heat recovered from the data centers across a wide area of the city, from the center to the outskirts. This includes iconic Milan landmarks such as the Duomo and Palazzo Reale, which are already heated through A2A Group’s district heating network.

Like all our European facilities, our data centers in Milan have 100% renewable energy coverage, so any heat they distribute to the community can be traced back to low-carbon energy sources.

What’s next for data center heat export?

Data center heat-export initiatives have continued to evolve along with modernizing regulations around resource efficiency and climate change, supporting sustainability goals and strengthening the resilience of local systems.

Today, with grid instability emerging as a major challenge in many parts of the world, reducing dependency on fossil fuels as a heat source offers communities critical protection against global instabilities such as unexpected spikes in gas prices.

Also, with today’s AI workloads driving dramatic increases in data center power density, the potential value of heat export will only continue to grow. Data center operators recognize this potential, but we can’t capture it alone. It will take partnerships with local municipalities like Milan and energy companies like A2A. At Equinix, we’re proactively pursuing these partnerships across our global footprint.

What data centers bring to the community

Across our global locations, Equinix has a track record of being a responsible community member, and our latest announcement in Italy underscores this ongoing commitment. Other examples of this commitment in action include our global training and apprenticeship initiatives, which serve the dual purpose of creating economic opportunities in communities and addressing the data center industry’s worker shortage.

We’ve been a part of the Milan community for many years now, but we’ve never stopped looking for opportunities to do more. Launching a market-leading initiative of this magnitude reflects the depth of our local relationships in Milan, as well as the value we place on investing in the city’s future.

Initiatives such as the Equinix and A2A collaboration help local stakeholders reach their targets, while contributing to the overall decarbonization of the greater area.

How heat export works

The keys to heat export are partnerships with heat network operators such as A2A and support from municipalities like Milan. The residual heat generated by IT equipment in data centers would remain untapped if we didn’t have a heat network to transfer it to. Also, if we didn’t have local government working to bring everyone to the table, we wouldn’t be able to get alignment with key stakeholders.

In a typical data center cooling setup, the building cooling system rejects heat into the atmosphere, in the form of either hot air or water vapor. This keeps data center equipment operating within safe temperature ranges, but it also means missing out on an opportunity to help the community.

By incorporating heat export into our data centers, we transfer a portion of our residual heat to a third-party network via a heat exchanger, which uses a heat pump to increase the water temperature until it’s suitable for use in the community.

Finally, the heated water is distributed to the community via underground pipes, which are typically installed under roads and sidewalks.

Join us in building the future of data center heat export

Much like the process of heat export itself, our ability to make a global impact depends on local partnerships with innovative energy companies like A2A.

We created the Equinix Heat Export Program to invite network operators, energy utilities and municipalities around the world to join us in providing vital heat sources to local communities. Together, we can help more cities shrink their carbon footprints by reducing demand for fossil fuels used for heating.

The IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Datacenter Services Sustainability 2025-2026 Vendor Assessment named Equinix as a Leader. We believe that this reflects the depth of both our sustainability strategies and our capabilities.[1]

Heat export is just one example of how Equinix remains committed to helping our stakeholders meet their sustainability goals, even during this time of AI-driven demand. During 2025, we achieved the following sustainability results:

• We maintained 96% renewable energy coverage across our global data center portfolio, as we continue to pursue our goal of 100% coverage by 2030.
• We improved power usage effectiveness (PUE) by 5.3% year-over-year, thanks to $36 million invested in data center efficiency improvements.
• We signed four new power purchase agreements (PPAs), while 14 previously contracted PPAs came online. These PPAs represent projects that contribute new renewable energy generation capacity to local grids, benefiting the communities in which we operate.

Learn more about our commitments to driving sustainability results for our customers and our communities, and the progress we made toward those commitments in 2025: Read our sustainability report.

For more details about becoming a partner in the Equinix Heat Export Program, contact us today.

[1] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Datacenter Services Sustainability 2025-2026 Vendor Assessment, #US53000525e, December 2025