Europe Water Consumption Market Size
| Study Period | 2021 - 2030 |
| Base Year For Estimation | 2024 |
| Forecast Data Period | 2025 - 2030 |
| Market Volume (2025) | 0.82 Trillion liters |
| Market Volume (2030) | 1.58 Trillion liters |
| CAGR (2025 - 2030) | 14.00% |
| Market Concentration | Low |
Major Players
*Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order |
Europe Water Consumption Market Analysis
The Europe Water Consumption Market size is estimated at 0.82 trillion liters in 2025, and is expected to reach 1.58 trillion liters by 2030, at a CAGR of greater than 14% during the forecast period (2025-2030).
- IT Load Capacity: The IT load capacity for the Europe colocation data center market stands at roughly 14616.18 MW in 2024.
- Geographical Significance:In Europe, Western Europe predominantly experiences an Oceanic climate, characterized by mild to warm summers and cool winters, often under cloudy skies. In contrast, Southern Europe enjoys a Mediterranean climate, marked by hot, dry summers and mild winters, with frequent sunshine. While much of Europe boasts a temperate climate, its northern coast encounters polar conditions, and the southern coast leans towards subtropical. Over the past four decades, extreme weather events in Europe, including storms, heatwaves, and flooding, have resulted in 85,000 to 145,000 fatalities, with over 85% due to heatwaves. Economic losses from these weather and climate-related extremes have cost Europe nearly USD 550 billion. Countries like Portugal, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and parts of southern Russia are grappling with droughts due to insufficient water and rainfall, jeopardizing their commercial water needs.
- Raised Floor Space: The raised floor space for the Europe colocation data center market is estimated at around 52442845.96 sq.ft in 2024.
- Projected Installed Racks: The projected number of installed racks in the Europe colocation data center market for 2024 is approximately 2088025.
Europe Water Consumption Market Trends
Rising Demand for Mega Data Centers Amid Digitalization Trends Sparks Concerns Over Water Consumption
- Europe is rapidly emerging as a global leader, with Western Europe at the forefront of the ICT market. The region is witnessing heightened data consumption and digitalization, driven by the growing adoption of technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, robotics, 5G, and fiber connectivity. The surge in smartphone purchases further underscores these trends, with data centers playing a pivotal role in ensuring seamless services. To support the European Union's digital transformation goals, over $4.9 billion has been allocated in the 2023-24 Horizon Europe work programme. This allocation constitutes more than 33% of the total work programme budget, which stands at approximately $14.7 billion. These funds are set to empower European researchers and innovators, enabling them to tackle not only digital challenges but also pressing environmental, energy, and geopolitical issues.
- In 2024, Europe witnessed the launch of its first commercial 5G mobile networks in mid-2019, followed by widespread rollouts across most countries a year later. By the end of June 2024, Europe boasted an estimated 190 million 5G subscriptions, a notable increase from the previous year's 130 million. In markets where 5G is accessible, it constitutes an average of 27% of all mobile subscriptions. Mid-2024 data highlights the UK as Europe's dominant 5G market, with approximately 37 million subscriptions, accounting for about 40% of its total mobile subscriptions.
- Smartphone penetration remains robust in Europe, with around 80% of the population owning a device—a trend consistent over the past four to five years. While the European smartphone market's 10% growth in 2024 is noteworthy, it's essential to contextualize this surge against a backdrop of quarterly declines that began in 2021. Samsung leads the European smartphone arena, closely followed by Apple.
- AI adoption is spearheaded by the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. The European Union is actively shaping the AI landscape, implementing strategies for both public and private sectors. A testament to this commitment is the EU AI Act, introduced in 2024 as the world's inaugural legislation governing AI use. This act seeks to address potential AI-related risks, ensuring a safer environment for businesses within the EU. With over 500 AI startups in 2024 and aspirations for further growth, the demand for mega data centers—and consequently, water consumption in these facilities—is poised to rise in Europe.
Colocation Data Center Providers Adopt Cooling Technologies to Reduce Water Usage
- Data centers are among the leading water-consuming industries in Europe. Primarily, Europe's data centers are colocation and AI-centric, heavily dependent on electricity and water for their operations. While some data centers in Europe use air-based cooling, others prefer liquid-based systems, tailored to specific requirements. However, during high temperatures, many data centers switch to full water-based cooling, significantly increasing water consumption, as water is essential for cooling systems, managing heat in these large facilities, and ensuring continuous operation of racks and servers.
- In Europe, the United Kingdom and Germany have the highest concentration of data centers. With the growing adoption of cloud services and AI, power and water demands in these regions are rising significantly. This increasing demand puts pressure on water authorities, which lack the infrastructure to meet the needs of both communities and industries like data centers. For instance, in 2023, Thames Water Ltd., based in the UK, is considering measures to reduce water usage by data centers, such as installing flow restrictors on pipes and charging more during peak demand times.
- The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (CNDCP), a self-regulatory initiative supported by 74 data center operators and 23 associations, has presented its water conservation metrics to the European Commission. The CNDCP aims to reduce water usage to a maximum of 400ml per kWh (or 400 liters per MWh) of computing power by 2040.
- Immersion Liquid Cooling and Direct-to-Chip Cooling are the main cooling technologies in European data centers. Major colocation operators are collaborating with infrastructure providers to develop advanced cooling solutions to meet the increasing demands of digitalization and AI. For example, in 2024, UK-based colocation firm Stellium Datacenters partnered with Submer to implement Submer’s immersion cooling technology at its Newcastle data center campus, using ExxonMobil’s DC 3235 Super cooling fluid.
Europe Water Consumption Industry Overview
The data center water consumption market in the Europe remains fragmented. However, six key players have emerged as frontrunners: Digital Realty Trust Inc., Equinix Inc., NTT Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, and Amazon Web Services Inc., along with VIRTUS Data Centres. Notably, several cloud and colocation data centers, including those operated by AWS and Microsoft, have set an ambitious target to achieve "water positive" status by 2030. For instance, Google is developing new cooling technologies aimed at significantly reducing water usage in its global data center operations.
Europe Water Consumption Market Leaders
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Digital Realty Trust Inc.
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Microsoft Corporation
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Amazon Web Services Inc.
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VIRTUS Data Centres
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NTT Corporation
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Google, Inc.
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
Europe Water Consumption Market News
- January 2024: Eviden plans to build a modular pre-fabricated data center in Germany to host Europe's first exascale supercomputer. Each IT module will include two containers, each containing 20 racks of Eviden's BullSequana XH3000 system with direct liquid cooling technology. This project is being developed in partnership with the German company Par-Tec.
- December 2023: Digital Realty's LHR19, dubbed the "Cloud House data centre" in London, is implementing cutting-edge cooling technologies. One such innovation is the river dock cooling system, which boasts energy efficiency 20 times greater than conventional systems. This advancement not only significantly lowers the carbon footprint of their data centers but also diminishes reliance on municipal drinking water.
Europe Water Consumption Industry Segmentation
The study tracks the critical applications of water in large data centers, such as cooling and power generation. It includes key applications based on water consumption in data centers and quantifies overall water usage in billion liters across regions. The study also identifies underlying trends and developments conceptualized by leading industry data center operators.
The Europe Water Consumption Market is Divided Into Segments Based On Water Procurement (Potable Water, Non-Potable Water, and Other Alternate Sources), Data Center Type (Enterprise, Colocation, and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs)), and Data Center Size (Mega, Massive, Large, Medium, and Small). The Report Provides Market Size and Forecasts for all These Segments, Measured in Volume (Billion Liters).
| Market Segmentation - By Source of Water Procurement | Potable Water (Via Regional Water Utility Companies, Local Water Authorities or Private Companies) |
| Non-Potable Water (It Includes greywater (Treated Sewage or Recycled Water) | |
| Other Alternate Source (It includes on-site Groundwater, Surface Water, Seawater, Water produced via a byproduct of oil and gas extraction, and Rainwater) | |
| Market Segmentation - By Data Center Type | Enterprise |
| Colocation | |
| Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) | |
| Market Segmentation - By Data Center Size | Mega |
| Massive | |
| Large | |
| Medium | |
| Small |
| Potable Water (Via Regional Water Utility Companies, Local Water Authorities or Private Companies) |
| Non-Potable Water (It Includes greywater (Treated Sewage or Recycled Water) |
| Other Alternate Source (It includes on-site Groundwater, Surface Water, Seawater, Water produced via a byproduct of oil and gas extraction, and Rainwater) |
| Enterprise |
| Colocation |
| Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) |
| Mega |
| Massive |
| Large |
| Medium |
| Small |
Europe Water Consumption Market Research FAQs
How big is the Europe Water Consumption Market?
The Europe Water Consumption Market size is expected to reach 0.82 trillion liters in 2025 and grow at a CAGR of greater than 14% to reach 1.58 trillion liters by 2030.
What is the current Europe Water Consumption Market size?
In 2025, the Europe Water Consumption Market size is expected to reach 0.82 trillion liters.
Who are the key players in Europe Water Consumption Market?
Digital Realty Trust Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Amazon Web Services Inc., VIRTUS Data Centres, NTT Corporation and Google, Inc. are the major companies operating in the Europe Water Consumption Market.
What years does this Europe Water Consumption Market cover, and what was the market size in 2024?
In 2024, the Europe Water Consumption Market size was estimated at 0.71 trillion liters. The report covers the Europe Water Consumption Market historical market size for years: 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The report also forecasts the Europe Water Consumption Market size for years: 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
Europe Water Consumption Industry Report
Statistics for the 2025 Europe Water Consumption market share, size and revenue growth rate, created by Mordor Intelligence™ Industry Reports. Europe Water Consumption analysis includes a market forecast outlook for 2025 to 2030 and historical overview. Get a sample of this industry analysis as a free report PDF download.
