Data Centers: Mitigating Climate Risks for Operational Resilience

Extreme weather conditions, from scorching heat to sub-zero temperatures, are impacting communities and mission-critical facilities worldwide. According to an XDI analysis of 8,800 data centers¹, climate hazards are not a distant future concern — they’re already impacting data center viability today.

Data centers are the silent backbone of the global economy, and the growth of data center construction is exploding worldwide against a backdrop of severe and frequent extreme weather events, according to the report. Flooding, forest fires, and rising sea levels are exposing vulnerabilities in data centers, which are often built on historical weather patterns rather than on today’s volatile climate conditions.

Traditional hardening was based on historical conditions, but times are changing, said Joe Murphy, director of business development for W. Bradley Electric LLC, a Novato, Calif.-based contractor offering end-to-end data center infrastructure solutions to support mission-critical operations.

“Today, we’re seeing more extreme heat, stronger storm events, and longer-duration disruptions, which means those assumptions no longer hold,” he said. “For data centers, resilience has to start earlier at site selection, utility coordination, and system design. The most successful teams are designing for variability and future conditions, not just past performance.”

Ramping Up Resilience

In today’s world, electrical contractors, engineers, and data center owners must focus on ways to mitigate climate risks to safeguard equipment and maximize uptime. XDI’s report analyzed five hazards to data center operations due to changing climate conditions: flooding, extreme winds, forest fires, freeze-thaw, and soil movement due to drought.

By 2050, nearly 20 percent of the nearly 9,000 data centers included in the study will be at moderate risk, and more than 7 percent will be at high risk. In North America alone, where the study analyzed 3,629 data centers, the infrastructure faces a threefold increase in the risk of damage from climate hazards by 2100.

In the United States, New Jersey is the 11th most climate-at-risk hub in the world, with one of five data centers projected to be high risk by 2050, according to the study. Massachusetts, Oregon, and Michigan follow closely behind, and Oregon was also called out for forest fire risk and Florida for tropical cyclone wind and coastal inundation.

By adapting the design of their infrastructure, however, data centers can help to mitigate these hazards. To boost resilience, companies must take a layered approach rather than rely on just one solution, Murphy said.

“It’s site strategy, hardened infrastructure, redundancy, monitoring, and maintainability working together,” he said. “Data centers need to protect critical systems, isolate failure points, and ensure they can continue operating or recover quickly when external conditions deteriorate.”

Currently, his company is noticing an elevated focus on moisture protection, flood mitigation, temperature control, and durability. This includes better waterproofing and sealing, elevated or protected electrical equipment, stronger roof and envelope details, and infrastructure that can be inspected and maintained without disruption.

“Specs now need to account for both extreme events and long-term environmental exposure,” he said.

Strengthening the Structures

By fortifying the structural building envelope of the data center, companies can create a more resilient operation. Murphy said the building envelope is directly tied to uptime.

“Water intrusion is one of the biggest risks to electrical systems,” he said. “Stronger detailing around penetrations, roofing, walls, and below-grade conditions is critical. We focus on sealing interfaces, improving drainage, and isolating critical areas so a localized failure doesn’t cascade into a larger operational issue.”

When determining which sealants will work in data center applications, contractors and engineers can turn to Polywater®, which offers two-part expanding foam sealants, mechanical seals, and structure entrance sealing systems.

Beyond these product offerings, Polywater also provides customer service and technical support. The company’s experienced and dedicated sales and laboratory employees regularly field technical questions, work with engineers to adapt designs or product applications, and visit sites to consult with decision-makers to customize sealant solutions for building penetrations.

Assisting design and planning teams in specifying robust designs can improve the resilience of critical infrastructure, such as data centers, against climate and environmental risks. Murphy also said using engineered sealants designed for movement and long-term exposure is key.

“Failures often occur at transition points: penetrations, joints, and equipment interfaces,” he said. “It’s important to design for future expansion so systems can grow without reopening vulnerable assemblies.”

By taking a proactive approach to climate hazards during data center construction and operation, facilities can weather the impacts of fluctuating conditions and drive down disruptions.

“Resilience isn’t just about today — it’s about how the facility adapts over time,” he said.

To learn more about how to help your clients protect their mission-critical facilities from extreme weather hazards through engineered sealants and other products, visit polywater.com.

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¹ 2025 Global Data Centre Physical Climate Risk and Adaptation Report