CEO-DC: Driving Decarbonization in HPC Data Centers with Actionable Insights

The rapid growth of data centers is increasing energy demand and widening the carbon gap in the ICT sector, as fossil fuels still dominate global energy production. Addressing this challenge requires collaboration across research, policy, and industry to rethink how computing infrastructures are designed and scaled sustainably. This work addresses central trade-offs in procurement decisions that affect carbon emissions, economic costs, and scaling of compute resources. We present these factors in a holistic decision-making framework for Carbon and Economy Optimization in Data Centers (CEO-DC). CEO-DC introduces new carbon and price metrics that enable DC managers, platform designers, and policymakers to make informed decisions. Applying CEO-DC to current trends in AI and HPC reveals that, in 72% of the cases, platform improvements lag behind demand growth. Moreover, prioritizing energy efficiency over latency can reduce the economic appeal of sustainable designs. Our analysis shows that in many countries with electricity with medium to high carbon intensity, replacing platforms older than four years could reduce their projected emissions by at least 75%. However, current carbon incentives worldwide remain insufficient to steer data center procurement strategies toward sustainable goals. In summary, our findings underscore the need for a shift in hardware design and faster grid decarbonization to ensure sustainability and technological viability.