At a glance
Firmus published an Australian Energy Policy and an Australian Water Stewardship Policy on 29 June 2026, turning the Commonwealth's March expectations into specific, self-set commitments it says it will report on annually.
The headline commitments: build two megawatts of new renewable generation for every one it contracts, step off the grid when prices spike, pay market price for energy with no subsidies, fund its own transmission, and default to dry cooling.
AirTrunk, NEXTDC and CDC have not published policies in this named, numbered form, but each already commits to versions of the same ideas through sustainability reporting, renewable matching and cooling design.
Efficiency figures are not like-for-like: NEXTDC, CDC and AirTrunk all hold 5-Star NABERS Energy ratings, the government's benchmark for federal workloads, while Firmus's "approaching 1.0" is a self-reported design figure for campuses not yet operational.
The debate has moved on: the question is no longer whether AI data centres raise power bills, but on what terms they connect.
These commitments will count only if the reporting behind them is shared and verifiable. NABERS is the closest thing the sector has to a common yardstick.
What Firmus has pledged
Firmus released two policies on 29 June: an Australian Energy Policy and an Australian Water Stewardship Policy. It says they go beyond the Australian Government's March 2026 expectations for data centre developers, translating that guidance into measurable commitments it will report on annually.
The energy policy runs to seven commitments. Firmus says it will build two megawatts of new renewable generation for every one it contracts, and match every megawatt-hour it uses with a renewable certificate from day one. It will step off the grid when wholesale prices spike, a term already written into its South Australian contract as a minimum of 220 hours a year. It will pay market price for electricity with no subsidies, and fund its own transmission upgrades rather than spreading those costs across other users. The rest cover efficient design, requiring suppliers to add storage, and helping replace coal capacity where commercially sensible.
The water policy sets dry-mode cooling as the default. Firmus says its Launceston AI factory is designed to run without cooling water on most days, drawing it only when the temperature climbs above 26 degrees, about ten days a year. It puts the site's annual cooling water use at roughly what 20 households consume, up to 99% less than a conventional facility. The design behind those figures is the liquid-cooling architecture we set out in our HyperCube explainer.
These are self-set commitments, enforced through Firmus's own contracts and reported by Firmus itself, so their value rests on that reporting being open. The 600MW South Australian supply deal signed the same week is the first test of whether the pledges show up in a real contract: it carries the 220-hour demand-response term, 1.5GWh of new firming and 1.2GW of new renewables, double the load. The deal sits inside South Australia's new energy for new demand strategy.
AirTrunk, NEXTDC and CDC already commit to the same principles
Firmus has gathered the commitments into one named document with the ratios attached. The other large operators hold to the same principles, but spread across sustainability reports and renewable contracts rather than a single policy. None of AirTrunk, NEXTDC or CDC has published a named energy or water policy of this kind, so Firmus's is a useful first of its type, even if the ideas are shared across the field.
AirTrunk has committed to net zero across its own emissions by 2030 and to matching all its electricity with renewables by the same year, reporting 74% renewable matching in its most recent figures, and its SYD1 campus holds a 5-Star NABERS Energy rating. Responding to the Commonwealth expectations in March, it said it was investing in its own energy and water infrastructure to reduce pressure on shared networks, the same cost-discipline principle Firmus has now formalised.
CDC Data Centres reports matching 95.8% of its electricity with renewable energy certificates and targets net zero by 2030 across a broad emissions boundary that includes several Scope 3 categories, and publishes its climate disclosures under the new mandatory Australian standard, AASB S2. Its proprietary closed-loop liquid cooling recirculates a single volume of water, which it says brings water use for cooling close to zero. All of its Australian sites hold government certification under the Hosting Certification Framework, and its federal facilities carry 5-Star NABERS Energy ratings.
NEXTDC reports its operating performance in detail. It publishes an actual fleet PUE under the NABERS framework, with water and carbon-use effectiveness alongside it, holds 5-Star NABERS Energy ratings at its Melbourne and Sydney flagships, and is certified carbon-neutral under the Australian Government's Climate Active program. It has been more cautious than its peers on the expectations, with chief executive Craig Scroggie warning that approval criteria without defined thresholds introduce uncertainty for investment.
Operator | Renewable commitment | Cooling and water | Declared efficiency (PUE) | Notable standard |
Firmus | 2MW new renewables built per 1MW used; certificate-matched | Dry-mode cooling default; near-zero water most days (Firmus design figures) | Nearly 1.0 (Firmus figure, not independently audited) | Named energy and water policies, self-reported annually |
AirTrunk | Targets 100% renewable match by 2030; 74% reported; net zero (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030 | Liquid-ready hyperscale design | 1.23 to 1.28, target operating | NABERS Energy 5-Star (SYD1); net zero since 2022 |
CDC | 95.8% renewable-matched (CDC-reported); net zero 2030 (broader scope) | Closed-loop liquid cooling, near-zero water (CDC figure) | 1.38, as stated by CDC | 5-Star NABERS (federal sites); all AU sites HCF Certified |
NEXTDC | PPAs and onsite solar; net zero target being set | Free-air cooling; first liquid-to-chip deployment | 1.44, audited actual (NABERS, FY25) | NABERS Energy 5-Star (M1, S1); Climate Active |
Source: company sustainability disclosures and policy pages, FY24 to June 2026. Figures are self-reported and compiled on different bases, so the columns are not directly comparable.
The efficiency figures are not like-for-like
Three of the four carry the same independent check. NEXTDC, CDC and AirTrunk all hold 5-Star NABERS Energy ratings on Australian facilities, the rating the Australian Government has required for data centres hosting federal workloads since July 2025. NABERS scores actual operational energy use, not design, so the star is audited. The headline PUE numbers each also publishes sit on different bases, NEXTDC's 1.44 is a reported fleet actual, CDC's 1.38 a single figure, AirTrunk's 1.23 to 1.28 a target, so the raw numbers are not comparable. Firmus's "approaching 1.0" is a self-reported design figure, and its Australian factories are new and not yet NABERS-rated.
The point is not that one operator beats another on efficiency. It is that the established players have their operating numbers checked, through NABERS and the government's 5-Star floor, while Firmus is so far asking to be judged on a design figure and a pledge to report. That is a fair position for campuses still being built. The test comes when they are running, and the audited numbers can be set against the design.
The debate has shifted to terms of connection
A year ago it was whether AI data centres would push up household power bills. Now it is on what terms they connect. The Commonwealth's March expectations set those terms: bring new clean energy, pay your full connection and network costs, and run as a flexible load. The logic is one we have set out before: new demand is net-positive for the system when it funds its own supply, pays its own costs and adds flexibility, rather than drawing on what already exists. Every operator here is now arguing on that ground. We traced it in why power bills are falling even as data centres grow.
Firmus's policy is that conditional made contractual. AirTrunk frames it as reducing pressure on shared networks, CDC as practice embedded from day one, NEXTDC as a question of execution and clear thresholds. The differences are real, but the direction is shared, and constructive for an industry that needs social licence as much as power. An operator that builds new generation, funds its own grid connection and pulls back when the system is tight is a different kind of customer from one that simply adds load.
What this means
The risk in any wave of voluntary commitments is that the words outrun the verification. The sector would gain from a common standard for what now matters most: how renewable additionality is counted, how many hours of demand response are delivered, what share of network cost an operator carries, and how water use is measured. NABERS already does this for energy, which is why the majors' operating figures carry weight. Extending that shared, verified yardstick to renewables, flexibility and water would let the public judge these commitments rather than take them on trust.
For now, Firmus has set a useful precedent by writing the bargain down with numbers, and the majors show the same principles are already in play. That is a healthier starting point than the sector had a year ago.
What to watch
Watch whether Firmus's first annual report against these policies shows the two-to-one renewable build and the 220 hours of demand response actually delivered, whether the other operators move from sustainability reporting toward the same kind of named, numbered commitments, and whether the Commonwealth's expectations harden into defined thresholds when energy ministers next meet.