Issued by the Data Centre Accountability Council
Fair Data Centre™ is an independent certification verifying that a facility respects the water, land, power and communities it depends on — assessed against a published standard and confirmed by independent auditors.
What the mark means
Every Fair Data Centre is assessed across five pillars — environmental and social, together. A strong score in one can never paper over a failure in another.
Minimal freshwater drawn; the host basin protected.
Genuine renewable supply and grid responsibility.
Fair, consented land use and real local benefit.
Heat, water and equipment reused, not wasted.
Honest, public, verifiable disclosure of it all.
The four levels
A public commitment, baseline disclosure, and a dated plan to certify. The starting line.
Meets the entry bar across all five pillars and passes every must-pass gateway.
Stronger thresholds across every pillar — a clear step above the floor.
The highest bar across all five pillars. Responsible building, fully demonstrated.
Your level is set by your weakest pillar — no trading water against carbon. And no facility certifies at any level without clearing the community-consent floor.
How it works
Register the facility and complete a structured self-assessment.
A DCAC-accredited auditor — never one who advised you — assesses the site.
Performance is checked against the published Fair Data Centre Standard.
A level is awarded — Certified, Silver or Gold — and the mark is yours to use.
Annual surveillance, a three-year cycle, and a bar that tightens over time.
Why the mark is trustworthy
Certification is verified by accredited third parties — not by the Council, and not self-declared.
No certification — at any level — if land wasn’t fairly and consensually acquired.
Thresholds tighten over time, so the mark keeps meaning something as the industry improves.
The standard belongs to the Council, governed with a Global-South majority and never funded by operator money.
The Fair Data Centre Standard is in active development, and we’re assembling the founding cohort of operators ready to set the bar — not wait to be measured by it. If that’s you, start the conversation now.
Join the founding cohortQuestions
The Data Centre Accountability Council, an independent non-profit, owns the standard and the mark. Certification itself is performed by independent, accredited auditors.
The standard is in active development and we are forming a founding cohort. No facility has been certified yet — we’re being deliberate, because the mark is only worth what its integrity is.
Operators pay accredited auditors for the audit, plus a modest licence fee to use the mark. A certification outcome is never contingent on payment.
Those certify buildings and management systems. Fair Data Centre adds what they don’t — water-stress context, a land-and-community pillar, and independent community monitoring — and recognises them as evidence where relevant.
Yes. Annual surveillance, a public complaints mechanism, and transparent suspension or de-certification keep it honest. The ability to revoke is what gives it value.