Data centres are the foundation of a modern, digital economy, providing essential services to sectors ranging from healthcare and energy to banking and defence. By 2035, data centres have the potential to contribute an additional £44 billion in GVA to the UK economy between 2025-35. They are also, to varying degrees, significant consumers and producers of essential resources, which has inevitably led to discourse on their role in creating a more circular economy.
In the context of recent announcements, namely the whitepaper on water sector reform and the Government’s response to the heat network zoning consultation, the interaction between data centres, wastewater, and waste heat has risen up the political agenda. Yet, despite appetite from data centre operators to become more involved in the use of wastewater for cooling systems and the export of waste heat to local networks, regulatory and practical barriers remain.
This webinar will bring together data centre operators, policymakers, trade associations, and other key stakeholders to understand the policy and regulatory barriers to improve data centres’ ability to actively contribute to the circular economy, while recognising the individual needs and restrictions of specific projects.
The event will be split into two sections: one for waste heat followed by another for wastewater. Each section will begin with a presentation from a key policymaker followed by a panel discussion.
The webinar will be open to all techUK members, particularly those in the following programmes: Smart Infrastructure Systems; Data Centres; and Climate, Environment and Sustainability.
Key Takeaways
- Opportunities to use wastewater in cooling systems and to export waste heat to heat networks
- The differences in the compute, locations, and capabilities of individual data centres and restrictions these may create to participation.
- The current policy landscape, including recent developments in water sector reform and heat network zoning
- Key regulatory and practical barriers affecting circular economy initiatives for data centres
Who Should Attend
techUK members interested in data centre sustainability, digital infrastructure and utilities more broadly, particularly those involved in the Smart Infrastructure Systems, Data Centres, and Climate, Environment and Sustainability programmes.
Register to join industry leaders and policymakers to discuss how data centres can play a greater role in the circular economy.
Robert Price
Robert Price
Robert joined techUK in January 2025 as our Programme Manager for Transport and Mobility.
He works on a wide range of areas across road, rail, aviation, and maritime, with an overarching focus on enabling, advocating, and championing the technological innovations that will build the transport systems of the future.
Prior to this role, Robert worked in the House of Commons for a Member of Parliament and in public affairs roles in both agency and trade association settings. He holds a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree from the University of Oxford as well as a Graduate Diploma in Law.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2000
- Website:
- www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rjlprice/
Jade van Zuydam
Jade van Zuydam
Jade joined techUK in September 2025, leading our data centres work on energy and water. As Junior Programme Manager, she works with industry and government to shape policy and advance sustainability, resilience and the UK’s net zero goals.
She brings a background in research, journalism and advocacy. Prior to joining techUK, Jade worked at The Economist developing international conferences to debate the most important ideas of our time, before moving into freelance journalism for their daily newsletter, The World in Brief. Her writing explores the intersection of environmental and social justice issues, from climate litigation and energy grids to sustainable agriculture. As programme manager at Digital Leaders, she engaged a network of over 100,000 members on digital transformation and its implications for policy, public services and decarbonisation.
Jade holds an MSc in Environment, Politics and Development from SOAS University of London, and a BA (Hons) in History and International Relations from the University of Exeter.
Lucas Banach
Lucas Banach
Lucas Banach is Programme Assistant at techUK, he works on a range of programmes including Data Centres; Climate, Environment & Sustainability; Market Access and Smart Infrastructure and Systems.
Before that Lucas who joined in 2008, held various roles in our organisation, which included his role as Office Executive, Groups and Concept Viability Administrator, and most recently he worked as Programme Executive for Public Sector. He has a postgraduate degree in International Relations from the Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski Cracow University.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2006
- Twitter:
- @techUK
- Website:
- www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-banach-50139650
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