{"id":93756,"date":"2026-05-26T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=93756"},"modified":"2026-05-21T17:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:12:53","slug":"making-ai-sustainable-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/making-ai-sustainable-data-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Asset-Light, Impact-Heavy: Inside Salesforce\u2019s Approach to Reduce the Environmental Footprint of AI Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-shadow-box is-style-takeaways\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-471ecb11ca02c2e7ea813f9dd3857484\" id=\"h-key-takeaways\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Salesforce embeds sustainability in its procurement strategy by setting ambitious expectations for suppliers and partnering across the value chain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deploying right-sized AI models and zero-copy architecture eliminates massive amounts of energy and data waste.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI-driven tools can provide near-instant visibility into emissions and water usage to enable proactive environmental action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Driven by the rapid acceleration of AI, global data center demand is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/public-sector\/our-insights\/the-data-center-balance-how-us-states-can-navigate-the-opportunities-and-challenges\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expected to more than triple by 2030<\/a>, heavily straining power grids and increasing data center water consumption by an estimated 170%. This significant environmental impact is compelling technology leaders to overhaul their energy strategies and ask tough questions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeyond today\u2019s energy use, the concern is the projected \u2018hockey stick\u2019 growth in demand and whether it will outpace clean energy,\u201d said Sunya Norman, SVP of Impact at Salesforce, who leads the company\u2019s AI sustainability strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As AI infrastructure, models, and measurement standards are evolving rapidly, the industry is still learning what it will take to scale AI more sustainably. Salesforce has developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/documents\/company\/sustainability\/salesforce-ai-sustainability-outlook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">preliminary approach<\/a> to AI sustainability that continues to evolve alongside the technology itself \u2014 informed by collaboration with cloud providers, researchers, and customers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/company\/sustainability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sustainability<\/a> is a core value at Salesforce and the company has committed to achieving science-based targets, working to reduce its environmental impact is an important priority. While Salesforce doesn\u2019t directly operate data centers, it\u2019s leveraging its position in the value chain to help reduce impact across layers of the stack, including procurement, compute efficiency, data intelligence, data architecture, and water stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-working-together-to-build-a-sustainable-value-chain\"><strong>1. Working together to build a sustainable value chain<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Salesforce hosts its cloud infrastructure, Hyperforce, on public providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Because Salesforce doesn\u2019t operate the physical facilities, emissions from these processes are considered indirect, or scope 3. This means decarbonizing the work depends on supplier influence rather than direct operational control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t only an environmental issue. It\u2019s also a business and community one. Companies need to be thinking now about how to manage demand, improve efficiency and transparency, and support the transition to clean energy so innovation can scale responsibly,\u201d Norman said. \u201cWe see our role as helping bring the ecosystem together, working alongside partners across the supply chain so we can collectively make progress that none of us could make alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That orientation drives a shared responsibility model that uses several tools, from contractual mechanisms to direct collaboration with providers. As a major cloud customer, Salesforce works closely with its partners to encourage greater efficiency at both the facility and compute levels, using its procurement relationships to help advance broader industry progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The collaboration tends to find natural alignment. Public cloud providers carry their own ambitious sustainability commitments, which gives both sides reasons to work through specifics as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe use these deep relationships to drive change together,\u201d said Amanda von Almen, Senior Director of Sustainability Intelligence and Decarbonization at Salesforce. \u201cWe mutually align and work together on shared goals such as data centers powered by 100% renewable energy, reducing water use, and using efficient hardware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-right-sizing-ai-models-to-the-task-at-hand\"><strong>2. Right-sizing AI models to the task at hand<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The prevailing enterprise instinct is to throw massive, energy-intensive AI models at every problem. Salesforce counters this with &#8220;smart demand&#8221; \u2014 strictly calibrating model size to the specific task. Doing this reduces the load on individual data centers, as compute demand is the upstream constraint that drives downstream energy use in data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In collaboration with Hugging Face and academic partners, we subsequently parlayed this work into creating the <a href=\"https:\/\/huggingface.co\/blog\/sasha\/ai-energy-score-v2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI Energy Score<\/a>, a standardized Energy Star-style rating system that measures the power consumption of AI models during inference. Real-time rankings are displayed on a <a href=\"https:\/\/huggingface.co\/spaces\/AIEnergyScore\/Leaderboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">public leaderboard<\/a>; the goal of this metric is to provide transparency that helps organizations choose more sustainable and cost-effective models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhere possible, we use right-sized LLMs to avoid wasting money and emissions on oversized models,\u201d said Eric Gertsman, Director of Tech Sustainability at Salesforce. Within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/agentforce\/?d=cta-body-promo-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Agentforce<\/a> Trust Layer, Salesforce has fine-tuned smaller, more efficient models \u2014 ranging from 44 to 135 million parameters \u2014 for targeted tasks like data masking. These precision models can operate up to 99% more efficiently than massive frontier large language models (LLMs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, Salesforce&#8217;s new Hyperforce cloud architecture drives an estimated 40% increase in operational efficiency due to super-efficient data center facilities, cutting-edge IT hardware, and operational flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This infrastructure rigor extends to software development itself. Salesforce\u2019s engineering organization is defining computer code efficiency metrics and setting annual targets to streamline the products that run on the cloud. The company also operationally deploys AI to predict server loads and resolve bottlenecks, embedding sustainability into every layer of the tech stack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"more-from-block more-from-block--2 alignfull wp-block-newsroom-moreontopic\">\n\t<div class=\"more-from-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"more-from-block__title\">Related<\/h4>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"more-from-block__cards more-from-block__cards--2\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\n\n<article\t\t\tdata-card-id=\"91996\"\n\t\tclass=\"content-card content-card--large-inline is-entire-area-clickable content-card--is-boxed\"\n\t\t\tdata-clickable-area-link=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/linked-content\/lockheed-martin-pge-corporation-salesforce-and-wells-fargo-launch-emberpoint-to-transform-americas-wildfire-prevention-detection-and-response\/\"\n\t>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-card__image-container\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"1024\" 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Response\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n<article\t\t\tdata-card-id=\"90878\"\n\t\tclass=\"content-card content-card--large-inline is-entire-area-clickable content-card--is-boxed\"\n\t\t\tdata-clickable-area-link=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/nature-based-actions-cop30\/\"\n\t>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-card__image-container\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/11\/Salesforce-Accelerates-Action-with-Nature-Restoration-Water-Resilience-and-AI-Sustainability-Efforts-3.png?w=1024\" class=\"content-card__image\" alt=\"Tropical fish swimming in the ocean.\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" 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America\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div itemprop=\"readTime\" class=\"content-card__read-time\">\n\t\t\t\t3 min read\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n<\/article>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<noscript>\n<div class=\"pagination-fallback\">\n\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93756\/page\/2\/?bc=OTH#section-title\">\n\t\t\tOlder Posts\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/noscript>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-powering-real-time-action-with-technology\"><strong>3. Powering real-time action with technology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the biggest challenges of applying sustainability principles in decision-making is backward-looking and stale data. Salesforce flips this reactive model with its sustainability intelligence program, built on years of rigorous data centralization, and commitment to being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/blog\/how-ai-agents-scale-sustainability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Customer Zero<\/a> of Agentforce Net Zero.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salesforce started with automating key parts of the carbon accounting process by leveraging the platform&#8217;s capabilities to run emissions factors calculations, data gap filling, and data integrations. This investment reduced its time spent collecting data by over 40% and reduced its need for consultants, reducing spend by 37%. The investment in automated data centralization and Salesforce technology meant that it\u2019s been able to deploy machine learning to process millions of rows of carbon, energy, and water data in near real time and integrate that into its decarbonization motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/agentforce-for-net-zero-cloud-announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Salesforce\u2019s Agentforce Net Zero product<\/a> has numerous capabilities that help sustainability teams streamline reporting, boost efficiency, and enable forward-looking strategic action through prebuilt agent topics and actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-treating-zero-copy-architecture-as-a-sustainability-tool\"><strong>4. Treating zero-copy architecture as a sustainability tool<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Enterprise AI faces a massive data movement problem. Executing complex models requires transferring large datasets to the compute source, a process that burns significant power and creates immense storage redundancies. Salesforce tackles this inefficiency through its Hyperforce platform and zero-copy architecture, which brings the intelligence directly to the data and can reduce the compute cycles required in downstream data center processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By integrating with external data sources in place, Salesforce neutralizes &#8220;data gravity,&#8221; the slow, expensive, and risky process of migrating massive datasets. \u201cThe value is in being able to bring all of these different sources of data together and not requiring that the data be migrated or copied,\u201d said Paul Constantinides, EVP of Engineering at Salesforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eliminating redundant storage instantly reduces the energy required to process duplicate data. This approach delivers distinct enterprise value: Chief information security officers reduce their threat exposure, while chief sustainability officers shrink their computational footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond storage efficiency, Hyperforce\u2019s regional architecture unlocks another powerful climate lever: spatial and temporal workload routing. Salesforce is actively developing capabilities to shift nonurgent AI workloads to off-peak hours or regions with abundant wind and solar resources.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAI is particularly well suited to perform tasks that are temporally and spatially flexible,\u201d noted Gertsman. To accelerate this dynamic balancing, Salesforce works closely with its Hyperscale partners and actively <a href=\"https:\/\/salesforceventures.com\/impact-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">invests<\/a> in early-stage grid intelligence companies such as Base, Crusoe, Emerald AI, and WeaveGrid, betting that tomorrow\u2019s infrastructure will autonomously optimize when and where it draws clean power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-building-a-scalable-water-program\"><strong>5. Building a scalable water program<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Data centers also depend on water-intensive cooling systems and power grids, which rely on regional water availability. This is why freshwater scarcity has become a more central focus in infrastructure discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>As AI infrastructure demand accelerates, the industry response should be increasingly focused on strengthening community relationships, water stewardship, and supporting long-term resource resilience in the regions where this infrastructure operates.<\/p>\n<cite>Sunya Norman, Salesforce\u2019s SVP, of Impact, Salesforce<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Norman noted, \u201cWhile the global footprint is still relatively small, data center impacts can become very significant at the local level. As AI infrastructure demand accelerates, the industry response should be increasingly focused on strengthening community relationships, water stewardship, and supporting long-term resource resilience in the regions where this infrastructure operates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why Salesforce expanded its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/content\/dam\/web\/en_us\/www\/documents\/white-papers\/nature-positive-strategy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nature Positive Strategy<\/a> to include a dedicated water program, focusing on resilient data centers, power supplies, and watersheds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of this initiative, the company is establishing sustainable water withdrawal and discharge expectations for its priority facilities. Furthermore, Salesforce tracks the comprehensive water footprint of its cloud infrastructure, accounting for both the direct water used in server cooling systems and the indirect water consumed by regional power grids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fundamentally, Salesforce treats local water depletion as a direct threat to business continuity. To mitigate this risk, the company pushes public cloud partners to adopt closed-loop cooling and recycled water systems while actively investing in regional water health. Where industry measurement standards lag, Salesforce co-develops shared reporting frameworks with providers or builds proprietary models to fill the data gaps, helping strengthen environmental transparency and accountability as AI infrastructure scales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-broader-picture\"><strong>The broader picture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>These focus areas are deeply interconnected. Collaborating with partners, surfacing real-time intelligence, and managing localized water footprints demand pristine, centralized data. Likewise, right-sizing AI models, deploying zero-copy architecture, and shifting workload require rigorous, systemwide engineering discipline.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Together, they illustrate how sustainability considerations are increasingly being embedded into how Salesforce builds and operates technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As AI adoption accelerates, Salesforce sees sustainability as an important part of building trusted AI. While the technologies and standards will continue to evolve, the company believes improving efficiency, increasing transparency, and supporting cleaner infrastructure will all play an important role in reducing environmental impact over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-go-deeper\"><strong>Go deeper:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Learn more about Salesforce\u2019s AI approach through its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/documents\/company\/sustainability\/salesforce-ai-sustainability-outlook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI Sustainability Outlook<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Explore a three-step guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/blog\/ai-sustainability-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">starting and scaling an AI sustainability strategy<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/nature-based-actions-cop30\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Salesforce\u2019s Nature Positive Strategy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Driven by the rapid acceleration of AI, global data center demand is expected to more than triple by 2030, heavily straining power grids and increasing data center water consumption by an estimated 170%. This significant environmental impact is compelling technology leaders to overhaul their energy strategies and ask tough questions.&nbsp; \u201cBeyond today\u2019s energy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":93765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sf_subhead":"","sf_i18n_disclaimer":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"alternateThumbnailId":0,"sf_product_cta_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"sf_content_type":[1730],"sf_theme":[21184],"sf_topic":[21212,20528,21187,2798,1785],"sf_product":[],"sf_industry":[],"sf_role":[],"sf_multimedia_asset":[],"sf_location":[1798],"sf_collection":[],"sf_visibility":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-93756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","sf_content_type-feature-stories","sf_theme-agentic-ai","sf_topic-agentic-enterprise","sf_topic-agents","sf_topic-ai","sf_topic-data","sf_topic-sustainability","sf_location-global"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - 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