At data centers worldwide, leaders, operators, and facility managers collaborate with mechanical and cooling manufacturers and consultants to deploy the latest power and thermal management technologies and continuously optimize processes. In addition, they’re developing new metrics to assess their ability to reduce environmental impacts and achieve strategic business goals.

One meaningful way to reduce carbon emissions is to adopt new refrigerants. Over the past few decades, scientists and academic researchers have demonstrated the harmful impacts of traditional commercial refrigerants on the Earth’s stratosphere. Many high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, spanning different chemical compounds, have already been phased out due to international protocols and regional and national regulations.

This whitepaper provides a framework that data center stakeholders can use to consider low GWP refrigerants within the broader context of responsible business, emissions scopes, total equivalent warming impact (TEWI), and refrigerant GWP values and emissions. By using this paper, teams can make critical decisions about the refrigerants they use to cool and protect vital data center technology while complying with all relevant regulations and meeting their companies’ responsible business goals.