QTS updated its Green Financing Framework in June 2026, tightening the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) threshold for both new and existing data centres to 1.4, down from 1.5 in the 2023 framework used for its debut green bonds issued in April 2026. Water usage is not an eligibility criterion, but QTS reports its Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) and is targeting a 5% annual reduction; its water-free Freedom Design cooling system is now used in 27 of its data centres, up from 16 the year before.
The trend is more mixed elsewhere. Renewable energy consumed as a share of total energy fell from 22% in 2022 to just 12% in 2024, as QTS leans more on RECs, EACs, and PPAs to offset its footprint on an accounting basis rather than sourcing renewable power directly. This is common practice across the industry, but it is one reason both energy and emissions intensity rose between 2023 and 2024.
QTS does not disclose site-specific performance data for Fayetteville, and commercial operations only began in late 2025. Because the campus uses water-free cooling, its implied WUE should sit at or near 0 once fully operational; for carbon intensity, the key driver will be the Georgia Power grid mix, which our research benchmarks against comparable data centres, including Google's own Georgia region.
