From Opinions Desk

The health of this planet has become critical issue. The moment for collective action is now and this is not an option but essential to our survival. Earth Day, observed every year on 22nd of April, has a theme to underline the urgency of collective human action – Our Power, Our Planet. This urgency was starkly made obvious during the shutting down of the Strait of Hormuz. It became clear that the world can not depend upon carbon fuels and has to shift to renewable energy. Add to this the growing impact of climate change every year and the situations becomes critical.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 shows that environmental risks continue to dominate the planet, accounting for half of the top 10 risks over the next 10 years. If the action is not taken now, there won’t be a moment to take action in future.

These actions must be taken by every human being. Every person should contribute to the health of the Earth, It should not be just switching off the lights for some time. Don’t waste electricity unnecessarily. Switch on the electrical gadgets and utilities only when needed. Run the AC at 28 degrees Celsius and not at 16-18 degrees. Use as little platic as possible. Wear natural fabrics, made with natural dyes. Don’t se products such as harmful soft drinks that waste and spoil natural water. Don’t dump industrial – and domestic – wastes into the water bodies. Don’t contaminate oceans, land and air. Use public transport, preferably running on green fuels. Use biodegradable products in homes. Think of similar actions that you can take to turn around the health of the Earth.

On this occasion, following industry leaders have sent their comments –

“Sustainability can no longer be an afterthought for the datacentre industry; it must be embedded into every rack, every watt and every design decision. As AI adoption accelerates globally, the infrastructure powering it must evolve just as fast. The shift toward energy-efficient cooling, renewable power and decentralised capacity in emerging cities is not just good environmental practice; it is the only responsible path forward. Digital growth and environmental stewardship are not in conflict; they are complementary. This Earth Day, the industry must collectively reaffirm its commitment to decarbonising digital infrastructure at scale and building an AI-ready future that the planet can afford.”

—Narendra Sen, CEO & Founder, RackBank Data Centers

“In the datacentre industry today, the core problem is not just raw compute capacity, it’s the crushing energy inefficiency that comes with it. AI-driven workloads are rapidly pushing rack densities beyond the limits of legacy air-cooled designs rising from around 15 kW to as high as 60-120 kW per rack, making it increasingly difficult to scale without wasting enormous amounts of power and driving up operational costs to unsustainable levels. Facilities that were efficient two years ago are now facing power bills that threaten profitability and grid constraints that block expansion.

At Vertiv, we see this as the defining inflection point for the entire sector. The winning operators will be those who stop treating energy efficiency as a nice-to-have retrofit and instead engineer it into the DNA of every power and thermal system from day one. Our integrated liquid cooling architectures and intelligent power distribution platforms are purpose-built for exactly this reality, they slash energy waste at the rack level, maintain rock-solid uptime and let customers support dramatically higher compute density without proportional increases in power draw or infrastructure footprint.”

—Jaideep Roy, Director, Business Development, IMS, Vertiv

“Earth Day is a timely reminder of the responsibility the data centre industry holds as the backbone of the global digital economy. As AI, cloud adoption, and digital transformation continue to accelerate, demand for digital infrastructure is expanding at an unprecedented pace. This growth must be matched with an equally strong commitment to building and operating infrastructure in a more sustainable and responsible manner.

The industry’s long-term success will be defined not just by its ability to scale, but by how efficiently and sustainably that scale is delivered. Achieving this requires continued investment in energy-efficient technologies, greater integration of renewable energy, more circular resource practices, and smarter infrastructure design that minimises environmental impact without compromising reliability or performance.

Sustainability is no longer a complementary objective. It is becoming fundamental to the future of digital infrastructure. As the sector evolves, responsible innovation and sustainable growth will be critical to building the resilient, future-ready foundations needed for a greener digital economy.”

—Pratap Mane, President & Country Head, India, Colt Data Centre Services

These comments show that the datacentre segment of the IT industry, which is an energy intensive segment, has woken up to the critical situation and is thinking about how to minimise the energy usage. There needs to be concrete actions on the part of the entire IT industry to make the purpose of Earth Day a success.