Data Centers: New Environmental Reporting Obligations Effective as of 1 October 2025
As the rapid expansion of data centers fuels both digital growth and climate challenges, the European Union and its Member States are tightening their regulatory framework to reconcile energy efficiency, environmental transparency, and competitiveness. Data centers have become a focal issue: in 2018, they accounted for 2.7% of the EU’s electricity demand, a figure expected to reach 3.21% by 2030 - equivalent, based on 2023 figures, to Belgium’s annual electricity consumption - if current trends continue.
In response to this rapid growth and the environmental footprint of digital infrastructure, the EU aims to make the sector more sustainable, transparent, and energy-efficient by imposing monitoring, disclosure, and performance-improvement obligations on data center operators. Beyond regulatory compliance, these obligations raise strategic issues. Sustainability reporting has become a competitiveness driver, shaping ESG reputation and influencing the ability to attract clients and investors.
The data center market continues to experience strong investment momentum: many players seek to acquire facilities, capitalizing on the rising demand for computing capacity and the ongoing digital transformation. This acquisition trend underscores the need for all industry participants to master not only the technical and operational aspects but also the related legal risks—contractual, urban-planning, tax, and compliance—outlined in this analysis.
As autumn begins, French data center operators are watching closely for the publication of the decree implementing Article 25 of Law No. 2025-391 of 30 April 2025 containing various provisions adapting French law to EU requirements in economic, financial, environmental, energy, transport, health, and mobility matters (the “DDADUE Law”). This text transposes EU regulations into French law and takes effect on 1 October 2025 (the “Implementing Decree”), together with related ministerial orders, notably concerning environmental reporting obligations.
As we shall see below, the Implementing Decree and ministerial orders raise significant challenges, given the proliferation of applicable texts, staggered entry-into-force dates, overlaps with existing reporting obligations, and the specific business models of data center operators.
The EU legal framework and its transposition
The objective of monitoring data centers’ energy impact is embodied in three key instruments governing reporting obligations for operators:
At EU level:
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Directive (EU) 2023/1791, known as the Energy Efficiency Directive (the “EED Directive”), which introduces an annual reporting obligation for key information—energy consumption, waste-heat reuse, water use, renewable energy share, etc.—for data centers with computing power above 500 kW (i.e., industrial-scale data centers). The goal of this transparency is to establish a European sustainability rating system to encourage this energy-intensive sector to reduce its overall environmental footprint. It also aims to provide reliable data to the Commission and Member States for assessing the market’s energy impact, refining energy policies, and enabling informed planning;
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Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 (the “Delegated Regulation”), adopted on 14 March 2024 (↗ see text), specifying the performance indicators (KPIs) to be reported and their calculation methods, applicable to all relevant data centers. It sets out data-submission procedures via national interfaces or directly to the EU database by 15 May each year, in accordance with the EED Directive;
At national level: -
The above-mentioned DDADUE Law, transposing the EED Directive into French law.
Distinct implementation timelines
The first reporting cycles have proven challenging for data center operators.
During the initial two campaigns, conducted in 2024 and 2025 (for 2023 and 2024 data), French operators had to apply the Delegated Regulation directly. As the EED Directive had not yet been transposed into domestic law, required information was submitted exclusively through the EU collection platform.
The timeline compounded these difficulties. Originally scheduled for 15 May 2024 under the EED Directive, the first deadline was postponed to 15 September 2024 by the Delegated Regulation. However, the EU platform was not made available until 6 September 2024 - barely days before the cut-off date.
Adding to these constraints, operators were simultaneously required to respond to ARCEP data-collection campaigns under the French Postal and Electronic Communications Code, the scope of which has gradually been adjusted to align the KPIs with those set by the EED Directive and the Delegated Regulation. Consequently, in 2024 and 2025, operators faced two distinct reporting exercises each year—one at the EU level and one national - particularly since ARCEP’s surveys cover a broader range of data centers, namely those “with annual turnover in France equal to or exceeding €10 million (excl. tax) or with installed IT power demand equal to or above 100 kW,” thus including smaller facilities not covered by EU reporting.
One key objective of the DDADUE Law, effective 1 October 2025, and of the forthcoming Implementing Decree, is therefore to provide clearer coordination between EU-level and French-level reporting obligations for upcoming campaigns.
Initial insights from the Draft Implementing Decree
Conclusion
The forthcoming Implementing Decree and related orders will be pivotal in stabilizing the environmental reporting framework for data centers. While political uncertainty could delay adoption, these texts also present an opportunity to turn regulatory constraint into strategic advantage. By enhancing transparency and ESG credibility, they can strengthen the competitiveness and attractiveness of French operators—provided they are published in time for the 2026 reporting campaign.
The growing weight of environmental requirements is reshaping the structure of the data center market and directly influencing investment and operational strategies. Companies seeking to acquire or develop data centers must now integrate these obligations from the earliest stages of acquisition or financing.
Anticipating these legal, tax, and regulatory constraints has become a key differentiator in a sector where energy performance, compliance, and economic appeal are inextricably linked.