Peter van Dijk, Adjunct Professor in Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, wrote a piece recently published in Corporate Knights about the Government of Canada’s voluntary principles for sustainable, responsible data centre development.

He writes:

“Ottawa has told the companies building Canada’s next generation of data centres what responsible development should look like. Its new Responsible Data Centre Development Principles aim to protect Canadians from the costs and environmental pressures that can accompany these massive projects. Data-centre operators are expected to pay the electricity-system costs they create, conserve water, be transparent with host communities and ensure that their investments deliver lasting value to Canada.

Major technology companies have signed on. But the principles remain voluntary. If these are the minimum conditions Canada believes should govern infrastructure that will consume large amounts of electricity, water and land, why are they optional? Canada needs this investment. We need more domestic computing capacity for competitiveness and resilience, and AI capabilities that can help tackle difficult problems, including climate change, energy-system management, and the protection and restoration of nature. We need AI. But we need sustainable AI.”

Continue reading the full article on the Corporate Knights website.