The data center industry is entering a period of unprecedented growth, driven by AI and cloud demand, while also facing intensifying pressure to reduce environmental impacts, such as carbon emissions.
Construction materials account for a significant share of the sector’s carbon footprint. For many low-carbon materials, technical feasibility has been demonstrated against core performance requirements such as strength, durability, and other project-specific engineering criteria. However, adoption of low-carbon materials remains uneven, with some data center developers advancing toward programmatic deployment while others remain in the early stages of exploration or one-off pilots.
Key barriers to broader adoption include limited confidence in performance under real-world conditions, perceived schedule risk, insufficient organizational momentum, and weak demand signals needed to scale supply. Pilot projects are a critical mechanism for vetting low-carbon materials and technologies, and, in turn, accelerating their adoption. By documenting what is working, where roadblocks remain, and sharing these learnings through practical, real-world examples, this paper seeks to accelerate decarbonization in data centers.
Through case studies on lower-carbon concrete pilots, a key construction material with a relatively mature market for lower-carbon alternatives, this paper highlights proven approaches and deployments. Drawing on industry survey insights and additional expert perspectives, this paper also outlines critical factors to transition pilots into repeatable, scalable solutions.
A clear distinction emerges between pilots designed to prove a concept and those designed to create a runway to scale. Proof-of-concept pilots answer whether a material can work. Runway-to-scale pilots are structured to answer whether it can be deployed repeatedly across projects, with viable procurement, supply, and specification pathways. This distinction helps explain why some pilots generate learning but stall, while others translate directly into standard practice.
