Designing Resilient Giga AI Factories for America's Future

News provided by

The Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure

Sep 17, 2025, 09:15 ET


A strategic collaboration between AtlasInfra, ISI, CRI, and Sustain360°™ integrates sustainability and climate-resilience standards into early design of Giga-scale AI data centers, ensuring future-ready infrastructure, reduced carbon footprint, regulatory compliance, and risk mitigation.

RESTON, Va., Sept. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Building future-ready, climate-resilient AI capacity requires getting design decisions right from day one.

The Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure (AtlasInfra.org), the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) (sustainableinfrastructure.org), developer of the Envision® sustainable infrastructure rating system, the Climate Risk Institute (CRI) (climateriskinstitute.ca), Alliance partner for the PIEVC Protocol for climate risk assessment, and Sustain360°™ (sustain360.ai), an AI-enabled Climate Intelligence platform, today announced a strategic collaboration to apply proven mega-scale standards into the earliest design stages of Giga-scale AI data centers. These tools help ensure projects conform to certification schemes – FastInfra and BlueDotNetwork.

With global demand for artificial intelligence and hyperscale computing driving unprecedented infrastructure investment, these national scale "AI Factories" face escalating challenges: extreme climate risks, soaring embodied and operational emissions, and supply chain vulnerabilities. The challenge for Giga AI Factories: delivering extreme computational performance whilst managing unprecedented energy, water, material, and resiliency demands.

Why Now

The United States is committing billions to AI data center investments, such as Meta's $29 billion expansion in Louisiana, with forecasts projecting more than $125 billion in additional build-out. These facilities are strategic national assets critical to the U.S. AI growth, defense, economic competitiveness, and technological sovereignty.

Resilient, sustainable design provides a decisive edge. Facilities built to withstand climate extremes, supply chain shocks, and operational disruptions ensure uninterrupted AI capability which is an advantage over other adversarial nations.

Over 80% of lifecycle cost, carbon, and resilience outcomes are locked in during early design stages. Delaying extensive resiliency considerations until detailed design will limit options and increase costs. By integrating proven mega scale standards with advanced analytics from Sustain360, Giga AI projects can secure long-term performance, compliance, and community support- while avoiding costly redesigns.

A Paradigm Shift in Large-Scale Infrastructure Design

At the core of this collaboration is the ASCE 73-23 Standard Practice for Sustainable Infrastructure, an ANSI-accredited, performance-based standard setting minimum requirements for planning, designing, operating, and retiring mega-scale infrastructure sustainably and resiliently.

ASCE 73-23 works alongside ISI's Envision® framework, which expands those requirements into a comprehensive rating system assessing Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate & Resilience.

The CRI PIEVC Protocol adds an engineering-grade climate risk assessment method, enabling planners to design for future extremes. Together, these frameworks, powered by Sustain360°™, enable early-stage design teams to:

  • Apply ASCE 73-23 and Envision standards during conceptual design
  • Model and reduce Scope 3 embodied carbon across supply chains
  • Evaluate cost and carbon trade-offs in real time
  • Map site-specific climate vulnerabilities and mitigation options
  • Forecast compliance with standards and policy mandates

Executive Perspectives

"Engineers rely on sustainable standards to create innovative systems. AI growth depends on engineers to build the infrastructure that will benefit everyone by improving our quality of life," said Jan Hartke, Chairman, Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure.

"The Envision framework has transformed how cities and utilities deliver infrastructure. Now, with Sustain360°™, we can bring that same rigor and transparency to mission-critical AI infrastructure, aligning with ASCE 73-23 and meeting investor and community expectations from day one," said Anthony Kane, President & CEO, Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure.

"Climate extremes are no longer hypothetical; they are engineering realities. PIEVC provides the structured, evidence-based analysis needed to design for those realities, and Sustain360°™ makes that analysis a practical tool for planners and architects," said Erik Sparling, Vice President, Climate Risk Institute.

"We are enabling planners to make informed, standards-based decisions early, when they matter most. For Giga AI data centers, that means accelerating design, winning community support, and safeguarding multi-billion-dollar assets against climate risk," said Baz Khuti, CEO, Sustain360°™.

Value to Data Center Planners

For planners, owners, and investors involved in Giga data centers, early integration of these frameworks via Sustain360°™ delivers:

  • Informed Decisions When They Matter Most – Address up to 80% of lifecycle performance variables while they're still flexible and cost-effective
  • Lower Total Lifecycle Cost – Save on construction and operations costs through early optimization of energy, water, and maintenance strategies
  • Faster Approvals – Cut permitting timelines by 3+ months with transparent, standards-based documentation
  • Risk Reduction – Identify climate, supply chain, and regulatory risks before they constrain design

Learn More

The partners have published a white paper, Giga AI Data Centers – Future-proofing Physical Infrastructure for Sustainability and Resilience, available here: https://atlasinfra.org/spotlight/

About the Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure

The Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure leads initiatives, policies, and partnerships to align organizations toward resilient infrastructure as the new standard for planning, procurement, and construction.

About the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure

Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) is a non-profit dedicated to developing and maintaining Envision, the leading framework for sustainable infrastructure.

About the Climate Risk Institute

Climate Risk Institute (CRI) is a leader in climate risk assessment, training, and advisory services, and member of the PIEVC Alliance.

About Sustain360°™

Sustain360°™ is a unified climate and infrastructure analytics platform integrating sustainability and resiliency standards into project design workflows for early, informed decision-making.

Citations Loop

Media Contact

Michael Sanio, The Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure, 1 202 468 9079, [email protected], https://atlasinfra.org/

SOURCE The Atlas Initiative for Critical Infrastructure