Over 12% Of India's Data Centres Highly Vulnerable To Climate Change: Report

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Over 12% of India's data centres face severe climate change risks by 2050, warns XDI's report. Date centres in UP, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, and TN are highly vulnerable.
More than 12% of India's data centres may face severe infrastructure damage from climate change-induced extreme weather events such as floods and rising sea levels by 2050, according to a new report.
The analysis covers nearly 9,000 operational, planned, and under-construction data centres worldwide, including 228 in India. The study evaluates their exposure to eight climate hazards under a high-emissions scenario from now until the end of the century.
The 2025 Global Data Centre Physical Climate Risk and Adaptation Report by XDI (Cross Dependency Initiative), an international firm that assesses cost of climate-related impact to physical assets, warned that data centres in India are increasingly vulnerable.
The analysis flagged Uttar Pradesh as one of the most at-risk locations globally. Other vulnerable regions include Maharashtra, Telangana (Hyderabad), Karnataka (Bengaluru), and Tamil Nadu (Chennai), all of which are major hubs for India's growing data infrastructure.
By the end of the century, the risk to India's data centres is projected to more than double — increasing by 111%. The report categorises facilities into high, moderate, and low-risk groups based on their annual likelihood of suffering direct financial loss from climate-related damage, measured as a percentage of the cost to replace each building.
Data centres are critical to the digital economy, powering services ranging from cloud storage and AI to financial systems. India, a leading data centre hub in South Asia, is expected to attract investments worth $5.7 billion in this sector. However, the report underscores the urgent need for resilience planning.
Extreme weather can severely disrupt services and cause major financial losses. XDI's analysis shows that strategic adaptation—such as modifying building designs and incorporating structural reinforcements—could reduce the number of high-risk data centres globally by over two-thirds by 2050.
Other countries facing high climate-related risks to their data centre infrastructure include the U.S., China, Germany, Denmark, and Japan. In cities such as New Jersey, Hamburg, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Moskva, Bangkok, and Hovedstaden, between 20% and 64% of data centres could be at high risk by mid-century.
'When so much depends on this critical infrastructure — and with the sector growing exponentially — operators, investors, and governments can't afford to be flying blind. Our analysis helps them see the global picture, identify where resilience investments are most needed, and chart pathways to reduce risk," Karl Mallon, founder of XDI, said in a statement.
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