Beijing’s New Data Center Ban: Driving Green, Low‑Energy Cloud Computing

Beijing Announces New Restrictions on Data Center Industry

Recently, the Beijing municipal government released the Beijing New Industries Prohibition and Restriction Catalogue (2018 edition) . To protect air quality, the policy bans new or expanded gas‑combined heat‑power projects, restricts non‑compliant vehicle repairs, and imposes stricter controls on road transport of ordinary and hazardous goods in central districts.

The catalogue also states that the entire city prohibits the construction and expansion of internet data service, information processing, and storage support data centers, except for cloud computing data centers with a PUE below 1.4; central districts completely ban new and expanded data centers .

Link to the full catalogue (2018 edition)

Policy Tightening Due to High Energy Consumption

In recent years, China’s IDC market has surged, with the 2017‑2018 IDC Industry Development Research Report showing a global market size of $53.47 billion and a Chinese market of ¥94.61 billion, growing 32.4% year‑over‑year. However, data centers consume large amounts of energy, making them high‑energy, zero‑pollution, investment‑intensive projects.

Beijing is now controlling data‑center construction to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions, requiring stricter standards for new facilities.

Comparison of Old and New Catalogues

The 2015 catalogue prohibited new and expanded data processing and storage services, except cloud data centers with PUE below 1.5. The new catalogue tightens this limit to PUE below 1.4, effectively raising the bar for energy efficiency.

Opportunities Behind the Ban

The stricter regulations increase construction requirements for companies, encouraging them to locate data centers in surrounding cities of the Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei region, aligning with the integrated development strategy.

Green data centers—characterized by maximal energy efficiency, minimal environmental impact, low lifecycle cost, space optimization, restricted harmful substances, low electromagnetic radiation, and low noise—are becoming the industry trend.

Achieving green data centers involves technology and product solutions across multiple layers: device, equipment, facility, software, site, building, environment, and management.

Note: This article is compiled from internet sources, including the public account “IDC Circle”.