Climate Risks Threaten 80% of Global Datacenters

Two major risk-analytics reports indicate that global digital infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather. First Street found that nearly 80% of existing datacenters are exposed to hazards such as flooding, wildfires, and extreme winds. The firm noted that 86% of capacity in the Americas and 89% in the Asia-Pacific region are located in elevated-risk markets, including northern Virginia, Atlanta, Johor in Malaysia, and Marseille in France.

Further research from XDI Pty Ltd reveals that approximately 6% of nearly 3,000 planned datacenters are situated in areas at high risk of damage, potentially making them uninsurable without structural hardening. High-risk hotspots include Southeast Asia and China's Jiangsu province. Additionally, MS Amlin found that half of all planned U.S. datacenters are prone to severe convective storms.

Experts warn that these risks are compounded by the energy demands of AI and cryptocurrency, which the International Energy Agency suggests will increase carbon emissions and power consumption through 2030. Industry leaders argue that current underwriting continues to rely on outdated historical data that fails to predict modern climate volatility, leaving critical digital services susceptible to disruption.