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Data Centre Clean Power Transition Lab

Data Centre Clean Power Transition Lab

-Using Carbon Markets, Energy Contracts and Transition Finance to Phase Down Fossil Power in APAC

Day 2 of CFAS2027 | 11:00–12:00 | Avani+ Riverside Bangkok

Format: 60-minute expert-led working session

Workshop Overview:

APAC’s rapid growth in data centres, cloud computing and artificial intelligence is creating substantial new demand for reliable, round-the-clock electricity. Yet many of the region’s power systems remain heavily dependent on coal and other fossil-fuel generation.

 

This creates a defining challenge for the region’s digital economy: how can data-centre growth accelerate power-sector decarbonisation rather than lock in additional fossil generation?

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Conventional renewable-energy procurement alone may not always provide the continuous electricity, system reliability or replacement capacity required by data-centre operators. A broader combination of commercial contracts, carbon-market instruments and transition-finance mechanisms may therefore be needed.

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This workshop will explore how power purchase agreements, energy attribute certificates, transition credits, carbon credits, managed retirement arrangements and blended finance can work together to:

  • maintain reliable electricity supply during the transition; 

  • finance new renewable generation, storage and grid capacity; 

  • progressively replace fossil-fuel generation; 

  • support credible and measurable emissions reductions; 

  • protect affected workers and communities; and 

  • create commercially viable pathways towards 24/7 clean power.

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The session will focus on what is bankable, measurable, claim-safe and scalable—not simply what sounds ambitious on paper.

Rather than treating data centres only as large electricity consumers, the workshop will examine whether their long-term power demand, creditworthiness and climate commitments can help unlock investment in:

  • renewable-energy replacement capacity; 

  • battery storage and flexible generation; 

  • grid modernisation; 

  • managed fossil-asset retirement; 

  • transition finance; and 

  • high-integrity emissions-reduction programmes.

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The objective is not merely to make individual data centres appear greener. It is to determine how their purchasing power can help accelerate the decarbonisation of the electricity systems on which they depend.

The Strategic Question

-Can data-centre demand become an anchor for APAC’s clean-power transition?

Who Should Attend

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Data Centres and Digital Infrastructure

  • Hyperscale cloud providers

  • Data-centre owners and operators

  • Colocation providers

  • AI and digital-infrastructure companies

  • Energy procurement and sustainability teams

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Energy and Infrastructure

  • Utilities and independent power producers

  • Renewable-energy developers

  • Battery-storage and grid-service providers

  • Fossil-asset owners considering managed transition

  • Energy traders and aggregators

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Finance and Carbon Markets

  • Commercial banks and development finance institutions

  • Infrastructure investors and private-equity funds

  • Transition-finance and blended-finance providers

  • Carbon project developers

  • Carbon standards, registries and marketplaces

  • Insurers and guarantee providers

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Government and Market Governance

  • Energy and environment ministries

  • Electricity-market regulators

  • Carbon-market authorities

  • Grid and system operators

  • Multilateral organisations and development partners

Session Format

11:00–11:10

(10 mins)

The Data-Centre Power Challenge in APAC

An opening assessment of how data-centre expansion is affecting electricity demand, grid reliability and fossil-power dependency across the region.

Topics will include:

  • the growth of AI and cloud-related electricity demand; 

  • limitations of conventional renewable procurement; 

  • the challenge of matching clean power with 24/7 operations; and 

  • the risk of creating new long-term fossil-power lock-in. 

11:10–11:25

(15 mins)

Building an Integrated Transition Architecture

An expert briefing on how different energy and carbon-market instruments could be combined within one credible transition pathway.

 

The discussion will examine the respective roles of:

  • long-term power purchase agreements; 

  • renewable-energy and energy attribute certificates; 

  • transition credits; 

  • high-integrity carbon credits; 

  • blended and concessional finance; 

  • managed retirement agreements; and 

  • digital monitoring, reporting and verification.

11:25–11:40

(15 mins)

From Concept to Bankable Transaction

A commercially grounded examination of how an actual transaction could be structured.

 

The session will consider:

  • contracting with existing power assets without extending their operating life;

  • linking fossil-generation reduction to renewable replacement capacity;

  • allocating delivery, price and performance risks;

  • establishing credible retirement milestones;

  • measuring and verifying emissions reductions; and

  • attracting data-centre buyers, utilities, developers and financiers.

11:40–11:55

(15 mins)

Interactive Working Discussion

Participants will examine the practical barriers to implementation, including:

  • reliability and security-of-supply requirements;

  • additionality and baseline setting;

  • double counting and environmental integrity;

  • corporate claims and Scope 2 accounting;

  • regulatory approval;

  • credit pricing and buyer demand;

  • worker and community protections; and

  • scalability across different APAC electricity markets.

11:55–12:00

(5 mins)

Closing Takeaways and Next Steps

The session will conclude with a summary of the most viable transaction structures, unresolved market barriers and potential areas for collaboration following CFAS2027.

Key Topics to Be Covered

-​Data-Centre Demand and Power-System Transition

  • How data-centre expansion is reshaping APAC electricity demand.

  • The difference between procuring renewable attributes and changing the underlying power system.

  • Why annual renewable matching may be insufficient for 24/7 operations.

  • How data centres can avoid contributing to new fossil-generation lock-in.

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-Transition Contracting

  • Whether existing power contracts can support reliability while renewable capacity is progressively introduced.

  • How clear retirement dates and replacement obligations can be incorporated.

  • How utilities, power producers and data-centre operators should allocate transition risks.

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-Carbon-Market and Energy Instruments

  • The respective roles of PPAs, EACs, transition credits and carbon credits.

  • How carbon revenues could reduce the cost of fossil-asset retirement.

  • Where blended finance, guarantees and concessional capital may be required.

  • How verified emissions reductions could support commercially viable transition structures.

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-Integrity and Safeguards

  • Ensuring that transition credits represent real and additional emissions reductions.

  • Preventing carbon finance from prolonging fossil-asset operations.

  • Establishing credible baselines, retirement commitments and monitoring systems.

  • Avoiding double counting and misleading corporate claims.

  • Protecting workers, communities and regional energy security.

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-Replication and Scale

  • Which APAC power markets are most suitable for early implementation.

  • What policy and regulatory conditions are required.

  • How pilot transactions can develop into repeatable market models.

  • How data centres can aggregate demand and create investable clean-power pipelines.

What Participants Will Gain

Participants will leave the workshop with:

  • a clearer understanding of how data-centre demand can support power-system decarbonisation; 

  • a practical framework for combining energy procurement, carbon markets and transition finance; 

  • greater clarity on the integrity requirements for transition-credit programmes; 

  • insight into the commercial and regulatory risks affecting implementation; 

  • potential transaction structures for piloting in APAC markets; and 

  • new connections with data-centre operators, energy companies, financiers and market-infrastructure providers. 

The Future This Workshop Is Designed to Unlock

APAC’s digital economy can continue to grow without locking the region into decades of additional fossil-power dependency. Long-term data-centre demand can help make new renewable generation, energy storage and grid infrastructure bankable. Carbon markets and transition finance can help accelerate the responsible retirement of fossil assets. Workers and communities can be included rather than left behind.

The opportunity is to build a future in which digital growth and power-sector decarbonisation reinforce one another.

 

That is the future this workshop will work towards—not through aspiration alone, but through credible contracts, investable structures and measurable outcomes.

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