The Asian Development Bank just gave a $26.8 million green loan to build Thailand’s first environmentally certified data center, marking ADB’s first investment in the data sector across the region, the bank announced. GSA Data Center 01 will use the 900 million baht loan to build a 25.6-megawatt facility in Samut Prakan province that’s designed to be much more energy-efficient than typical data centers.
The facility will have a power usage effectiveness rating of 1.4 and achieve 99.982% uptime with Tier III certification. GSA expects to get LEED Gold certification for green building standards. The data center will lease space mainly to big tech companies, AI firms, and graphics processing service providers.
Southeast Asia is seeing huge growth in data centers as more people and businesses go digital, but these facilities gobble up massive amounts of electricity. Data centers typically use as much power as small cities, and most of that energy still comes from fossil fuels in the region. Thailand and other countries are trying to balance their push for digital growth with climate commitments to cut carbon emissions.
GSA will offer renewable energy certificates and green power procurement options for tenants who want clean electricity for their operations. The project fits with Thailand’s plan to cut carbon emissions 30% by 2030, reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and hit net zero by 2065. ADB Country Director Anouj Mehta said the investment “provides a strong case study for the data center market for green financing.” The bank’s Bio Circular Green Growth technical assistance program, backed by South Korea, helped assess the project’s environmental impact and renewable energy options.
GSA is a joint venture between Gulf Development (one of Thailand’s biggest independent power companies), Singapore’s Singtel, and Thai telecom giant AIS. The company started in 2022 and plans to begin operations next year. Gulf Development’s Chief Financial Officer Yupapin Wangviwat said the green loan shows “strong institutional confidence in both our long-term vision and our commitment to sustainability.”
For development finance and climate professionals, this deal shows how green loans can help make essential digital infrastructure more sustainable. Data centers are becoming critical for everything from cloud computing to artificial intelligence, but their energy appetite is enormous and growing fast. Financing models like this could help shift the whole sector toward cleaner power sources and more efficient designs. The fact that ADB made this their first data center investment suggests development banks see this as a key area for climate action in Asia’s booming digital economy.
