Read the full article by Corinne Bell (NRDC)
“Chemours, a spin-off of DuPont, is a major manufacturer of PFAS (aka toxic ‘forever chemicals’), and it is betting big on data centers. PFAS can be used in data centers for cooling, fire suppression, and in the production of semiconductors and other electronic components. Unfortunately, the entire life cycle of the PFAS used in data centers puts human and environmental health at risk, from the manufacturing of PFAS to their use on-site at data centers and their eventual disposal.
Chemours is a leading manufacturer of PFAS and the sole manufacturer of Opteon, a PFAS-based refrigerant used for data center cooling. This multibillion-dollar company is positioning itself as a key collaborator for data centers, and recently, the company has seen tremendous growth in the ‘product groups’ responsible for manufacturing forever chemicals for use at data centers. Yet both Chemours and DuPont have a dirty past when it comes to PFAS manufacture: The companies knew about and hid these chemicals’ harms from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states for decades, poisoning drinking water, the air, the soil, and entire ecosystems all the while. This history necessitates scrutiny for any new chemicals manufactured by the company, including those used in data centers.”…