Beijing pushes AI data centres to adopt green energy under action plan

Beijing is moving to make green electricity usage a key metric in the operation of new data centre projects, as part of a major push to align the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence with national carbon goals, according to an action plan released Friday.The policy document, jointly released by four bodies – the National Energy Administration, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Data Administration – encouraged operators to continuously raise the share of green electricity in computing facilities through so-called “green certificate” and “green power trading markets”, while also promoting cleaner backup power systems to replace diesel generators.The document, which proposes a total of 29 measures to improve the integration of green power and AI, also aims to promote the adoption of home-grown AI software and hardware in the energy sector, including the optimisation of domestic AI chips for applications in the sector.