Tired of partisan political conflicts? You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that a strong bipartisan consensus has emerged about a critical new industry sector. Politicians on both ends of the political spectrum now agree that government agencies should exert more regulatory control regarding data centers.
When a Republican politician like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and a Democratic one like New York Governor Kathy Hochul agree on any fundamental principle, it may be safe to assume that significant new legislation is likely to follow. In the case of data centers, such regulations will focus on distinguishing the good data center operators from the bad.
Fortunately, we do not need to wait for legislative bills to become law to achieve this goal. Right now, an effective approach for assessing data center organizational performance is the completion of the following three steps:
- Review the organization’s annual sustainability report for energy use, water use, and other relevant data. Facebook’s corporate parent Meta, for instance, published an Environmental Data Index with its 2025 Sustainability Report. It presented electricity consumption metrics on Sheet F and water withdrawal, consumption, discharge, and stewardship metrics on Sheets I, J, K, and L.
- Review the professional accounting standards that were utilized to define the metrics in the organization’s report. On Sheet B of Meta’s Environment Data Index, for example, the firm stated that it employed the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the UN Global Compact, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). All of these organizations post their standards online for free download by the public.
- Review the independent accountant’s review report on the data. Ernst & Young LLP, for instance, reported on the results of its review procedures regarding Meta’s energy consumption, water consumption, and other metrics.
Indeed, a massive amount of data is already available to assess the performance of our massive new data centers. Hopefully, the accessibility of this information will support the current bipartisan consensus and extend it into an enduring tradition of collaborative governance.
