Rising AI demand is fueling global data center growth, with significant implications for power and sustainability. In the Philippines, the government is pushing for more data centers to achieve digital transformation goals, but the country's hot climate poses challenges for cooling and energy use.
Data centers, facilities that store, process, and transmit data, are expected to expand further in coming years due to AI. A June United Nations report stated that emissions from four major tech firms—Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta—rose 150% from 2020 to 2023 as AI operations grew, requiring more data centers.
The International Energy Agency's April 2025 report projected that global electricity demand from data centers will more than double by 2030, with AI as the primary driver. In the United States, new data centers are already disrupting water supplies and raising electricity costs, prompting protests from over 200 environmental groups and a reform of the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act to speed up permitting at the cost of thorough environmental reviews.
In the Philippines, there are currently 35 data centers, per datacentermap.com, and Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda aims for 1.5 gigawatts of output by 2028, up from 200 megawatts. Neighboring Singapore, with 1.4 gigawatts, faces similar climate challenges, as noted by PS Lee of the Sustainable Tropical Data Center Testbed: “In thermal terms, Singapore is almost ‘permanent peak summer’ for a data center…. Cooling is both technically harder and structurally more energy-intensive here.”
The Philippines, with average annual temperatures above 27°C in some regions—exceeding the optimal 18-27°C range—is among 21 countries facing this issue, according to a November 2025 Rest of World report. For sustainability, policies like UN guidelines and the EU's 2024 Energy Efficiency Directive, which mandates power usage reporting, are essential. ESG-compliant designs and renewable energy integration are key for investments, while monitoring community impacts on electricity and water.
