Emma leads the data centre programme for technology sector trade body techUK, representing the interests of operators to Government and other stakeholders. She influences policy, mitigates compliance burdens, alerts the sector to risks and manages specialist groups, including the UK Council of Data Centre Operators. She negotiated a Climate Change Agreement for the sector in 2014, worth over £200M to UK operators and continues to lobby hard on behalf of the industry on issues ranging from energy costs to regulatory compliance. In 2020 she negotiated key worker status, protection for construction sites and quarantine exemption for data centre staff and contractors during COVID-19 and continues to work closely with UK government on sector resilience. She produces reports, policy responses, white papers, briefings and infographics on topics from generator emissions to Brexit.
Emma’s key priorities include sustainability and resilience. Recent outputs include a Sector Energy Routemap, a discussion paper on the challenges of attributing carbon to cloud services, a sector market overview and a discussion paper on construction trends. She has recently been appointed to the Board of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact and is working closely with the European Commission on common objectives. Emma is a recipient of three prestigious awards, is a regular speaker at industry events and sits on three international judging panels.
