Share of electricity consumption by data centre and equipment type, 2024

Second, sustainability performance is becoming a business requirement, not just a compliance checkbox. It is increasingly influencing investment decisions, tax-incentive eligibility and customer due diligence. Falling short of frameworks like Malaysia’s SDDC Guideline can disqualify operators from DESAC tax incentives — a meaningful commercial risk for many.

The combined effect is clear: energy transparency is no longer optional. Instead, it’s a must-have to compete in the European data centre market.

Fragmented energy data: the real EED reporting challenge

The biggest obstacle for most operators isn’t a lack of data. It’s that the data is fragmented.

Most facilities already generate large volumes of operational information — from infrastructure management platforms, BMS, EMS, CMS, real-time monitoring and control systems, meters and cooling infrastructure. The problem is that these sources rarely talk to each other. Data sits in separate platforms, calculated using inconsistent methods, often extracted manually for reports.

This creates real risks:

• Inconsistent figures across reporting periods
• Limited traceability when auditors ask questions
• Manual effort and spreadsheet dependency at scale
• Delayed visibility into inefficiencies
• Difficulty correlating IT load, cooling behaviour and energy consumption
• Inability to demonstrate performance reliably under scrutiny

Meeting these expectations requires more than collecting figures. It requires a consistent data layer — one that connects energy, infrastructure and operational context in a way that can be verified and reported with confidence.

How to prepare your data centre for EED reporting

The good news is that most operators don’t need to replace their existing systems. The more effective approach is to integrate what’s already in place and create a unified operational data layer on top of it.

A practical roadmap looks like this:

1. Map your existing data sources
   Identify where energy, cooling, water, carbon, capacity and IT load data currently live, and where the gaps exist.
2. Define your reporting metrics and calculation logic
   Align PUE, WUE, ERF, REF, CER, CUE and other KPIs with ISO/IEC 30134 and the relevant national framework. Establish consistent definitions across sites and systems.
3. Connect IT and OT data
   Link infrastructure performance with operational behaviour. Static facility data alone isn’t enough. You need to understand how load, cooling and energy interact in real time.
4. Automate data collection and reporting
   Reduce manual effort and improve consistency. Automated pipelines reduce error risk and make annual reporting more reproducible.
5. Create real-time visibility
   Detect deviations as they happen rather than discovering them in monthly or annual summaries.
6. Use energy data for continuous improvement
   Compliance data doesn’t have to be a dead end. When structured correctly, the same data can inform better cooling strategies, load balancing, asset performance and resource efficiency.

This is the shift from reporting as a burden to reporting as an operational advantage.

How integrated DCIM supports EED compliance

Modern Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) platforms are becoming central to energy transparency, but their role has evolved.

Historically, infrastructure management tools were used primarily for monitoring power, building systems and cooling equipment. Today, a well-implemented operations platform can also structure operational data, automate KPI calculation and provide the audit trail that regulatory and incentive bodies increasingly expect.

ATS Data Center Solutions takes a modular approach to data center management, covering building management, cooling, capacity, energy and billing. That modularity matters: most operators cannot — and do not want to — replace everything at once. The ability to connect existing systems and extend capabilities step by step is what makes compliance achievable in practice, whether you operate in Malaysia, Singapore or elsewhere in the region.

An integrated DCIM and operations platform can support:

• Centralised energy data collection across systems
• Power and cooling performance monitoring
• Capacity and infrastructure asset visibility
• EED KPI calculation and reporting
• Single-site and multi-site performance comparison
• Operational dashboards for facility and management teams
• A more reliable audit trail for sustainability reporting

But visibility alone is not always sufficient.

Why BMS, EMS and CMS matter for real-time energy control

Visibility tells you what’s happening. Control determines what you do about it.

If your operations platform flags rising energy consumption, teams still need to understand the cause and act on it. That may involve cooling adjustments, load balancing, equipment sequencing, alarm handling or integration with building automation.

This is where EMS, BMS and CMS layers become essential. They translate operational visibility into real-time control and action.

EMS helps teams understand and optimise energy performance. BMS connects building systems and environmental conditions. CMS provides visibility into critical infrastructure and operational status. Together, they help data centre teams move from passive monitoring to active optimisation.

Built on a real-time integration platform like Ignition from Inductive Automation, ATS Data Center Solutions connects EMS, BMS and CMS into a single operational view, giving teams both the visibility and the control to act on what the data reveals.

Together, they provide:

• Real-time energy visibility with operational context
• Automated alerts and escalation paths
• Faster incident response
• More accurate correlation between facility conditions and energy use
• Consistent, reproducible reporting
• A feedback loop for continuous performance improvement

From regulatory obligation to operational advantage

The operators who’ll benefit most from the EED aren’t those who treat it as a reporting exercise. They’re the ones who use it as a trigger to build a stronger operational data foundation.

When energy data is structured, connected and available in context, the same information required for compliance can also identify hidden inefficiencies, reduce costs, improve cooling strategies and strengthen customer confidence.

The question isn’t just: how do we comply with the regulation?

The more valuable question is: how do we use energy data to run a better data centre?

From PUE to proof: verifiable sustainability in data centres

The shift happening across ASEAN’s data center industry is not simply about adding more metrics. It is about moving from informal efficiency practices to verified, auditable sustainability performance.

PUE was a starting point. Frameworks like Malaysia’s SDDC Guideline and Singapore’s Green Data Centre Standard mark a new baseline — one where energy transparency, water use, waste heat recovery and renewable sourcing all form part of how a data center is evaluated and trusted by regulators, investors and incentive bodies.

The operators best positioned for what comes next are those building the data infrastructure to meet it — not just this year’s expectations, but the ones that follow as frameworks across the region continue to mature.

ATS Data Center Solutions helps data center operators across the region connect existing systems, structure operational data and build the foundation for reliable sustainability reporting and continuous performance improvement.