Independent nonprofit in formation
An independent standard for AI compute.
Certifying that data centers operate without depleting local resources, and that host communities share in what they generate.
- Document
- The Compute Stewardship Standard, Version 1.0, Public Comment Draft
- Published
- September 4, 2026
- Comment period closes
- November 3, 2026
- Status
- Open for comment. No facility has been assessed. Not a certification instrument until the Council is incorporated and a Certification Committee is seated.
The problem
Compute is growing faster than accountability.
data center projects disrupted by local opposition in the first quarter of 2026
Data Center Watch
in disrupted project value in the same quarter
Data Center Watch
of Americans oppose a data center being built in their area
Gallup, March 2026
Meanwhile, enterprises face growing pressure to account for their AI footprint with almost no visibility into where their workloads actually run, or at what cost to the places that host them.
Operators who have genuinely invested in closed-loop cooling, additive generation, and real community partnership have no independent way to prove it.
Self-reported claims are not verification.
The standard
Four pillars, scored and independently audited.
Every facility is scored out of one hundred points, twenty-five per pillar, against published methodologies. Tiers are set by total score and by minimum floors in each pillar, so no facility can compensate for ignoring one pillar by excelling in another.
Water stewardship
Closed-loop cooling with zero evaporative consumption, published water usage effectiveness, and disclosed withdrawal sources.
Additive energy
Hourly matched carbon-free energy from newly built generation, not annual offsets, with published ratepayer impact analysis.
Heat recovery
Measured beneficial reuse of waste heat, into district heating, agriculture, or industrial process, with credit for committed pathways and export-ready design.
Verified community benefit
A resident-majority advisory council, a matched contribution funded by both the enterprise buyer and the operator, held at a community foundation in the host region, with quarterly public reporting.
How certification works
Assessed, not asserted.
Certification is granted per facility, never company-wide. An independent Certification Committee, not staff, makes the decision. Certified facilities are published as public scorecards, re-audited annually, and suspended immediately for material misstatement. Assessors are independent and rotate. No assessor may audit a facility they helped design or advise.
Documentary review
Drawings, power purchase agreements, hourly consumption data, water permits, utility bills, community benefit and fund agreements. The numbers either reconcile or they do not.
Independent data verification
Claims checked against utility commission filings, state water permits, interconnection queue records, and local government minutes, not the operator's summary.
Site visit
The loop is genuinely closed, the makeup water is metered, the heat export tie-in exists and the pipe goes somewhere.
Community validation
Interviews with advisory council members without the operator present, and confirmation with the fiscal agent that funds landed and were distributed as reported.
Founding members
Help write the standard.
We are convening a founding group of operators, engineers, community development practitioners, and policy researchers to finalize version 1.0. The current draft is open for public comment until November 3, 2026. Founding members shape the criteria, ensure the thresholds are achievable rather than aspirational, and are named as contributors on publication. There is no fee and no commitment beyond your input.
Governance and independence
Who we are, and who we are not.
The Compute Stewardship Council is an independent nonprofit in formation. The standard, the audit function, and the rules of the community benefit fund are held by the Council. Community money is held by community foundations in each host region, never by the Council and never by any operator or consultant.
Certification decisions are made by an independent Certification Committee. Operators do not sit on the board. Founding operator members hold advisory seats with no deciding vote. Criteria are revised on a two-year public comment cycle.
Disclosure
The Council's founder owns Baseload Commons, a for-profit firm that designs community benefit programs for operators. Baseload Commons is one of the program designers the Council recognizes, and it is listed on the same terms as every other. The founder takes no part in any certification decision involving a facility that used it, and every scorecard names the program designer used. The full policy is published below.