• Right-sized, locally integrated data centres can anchor clean energy projects and strengthen grids through flexible demand,
• Opportunities to embed circularity by reusing waste heat and water, and to drive demand for low-carbon materials and carbon removal
• Need for transparency, contextual siting, and community accountability to ensure measurable, lasting benefits.

Understanding the difference:
Carbon removal vs carbon avoidance

A new whitepaper from climate finance company Opna calls for a fundamental redesign of how artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is built, powered, and financed. The paper argues that the current hyperscale model—massive, resource-intensive data centres concentrated in a few regions—threatens to deepen global inequalities and strain vital resources such as water, land, and energy.

Instead, the report proposes a shift to inference-first, modular, and distributed data centres - a model that aligns AI’s physical footprint with climate resilience and community prosperity. Properly designed, these “right-sized” facilities can anchor clean energy projects, stabilise grids, reuse waste heat and water, and drive demand for low-carbon materials and carbon removal.

Shilpika Gautam

CEO & Founder, Opna

“Decentralised compute decentralises power. By embracing modular, inference-first design, we can redirect the trillions flowing into AI infrastructure toward assets that strengthen both communities and the planet. AI infrastructure can and should become climate infrastructure.”

The paper outlines seven principles for achieving this transition, including anchoring clean power, embedding circularity, advancing water stewardship, using low-carbon materials, and establishing binding community benefit agreements. It also calls for rigorous transparency in energy and water data, localised siting strategies, and policy frameworks that reward integration with renewables and district energy systems.

“We need to move beyond the idea of data centres as isolated energy consumers,” said Alberto Ravagni, CEO of the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers. “Modular, inference-first centres can act as flexible grid assets - turning rising AI demand into a lever for accelerating, not obstructing, the net-zero transition.”

The whitepaper concludes that the next trillion dollars of AI infrastructure investment will determine whether the digital revolution accelerates environmental degradation, or builds the foundation for a more equitable, climate-aligned future.

About Opna

Opna is a UK-headquartered company accelerating the flow of climate finance to ensure that the trillions transforming global infrastructure also drive climate resilience and shared prosperity. Partnering with leading technology and financial institutions, Opna enables transparent investment in high-integrity carbon removal projects through its software platform for sourcing, diligence, financing, and impact management. Now, Opna is applying this expertise to a new frontier—helping companies deploy AI and digital infrastructure that aligns with net-zero goals, directing capital toward clean-powered, carbon-removing data centres that turn a climate challenge into an opportunity for sustainable transformation.