The environmental impact, carbon emissions and sustainability of computing in the ATLAS experiment

ATLAS Collaboration

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14976-3

The environmental impact, carbon emissions and sustainability of computing in the ATLAS experiment

ATLAS Collaboration

Department of Physics
Stellenbosch University
Department of Physics
University of South Africa
University of Zululand
Cadi Ayyad University
Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos
University of Granada
Universidad San Sebastián
CERN
Demokritos National Centre for Scientific Research
University of Sheffield
Harvard University
University of Bologna
National Institute for Nuclear Physics
University of Belgrade
University of Siegen
Heidelberg University
Indiana University Bloomington
CAS - Institute of High Energy Physics
University of Science and Technology of China
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Shandong University
University of Arizona
Nanjing University
Tsinghua University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Carleton University
University of Washington
Université Paris-Saclay
University College London
The University of Tokyo
Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

ATLAS, a general-purpose experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), makes use of a large internationally-distributed computing infrastructure, including over 106 TB of managed data on disk and tape and almost one million simultaneously running CPU cores. Upgrades for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will increase the required computing resources by a factor of 3–4 by the beginning of the 2030s, and by an order of magnitude before the conclusion of data taking at the beginning of the 2040s. These resources are spread over around 100 computing sites worldwide. Efforts are underway within the experiment to evaluate and mitigate various aspects of the environmental impact of the sites, with the additional long-term goal of making recommendations to the sites that will significantly reduce the total expected environmental impact in the HL-LHC era. These efforts take several forms: building awareness in the experiment community, adjusting aspects of the computing policy, and modifications of data center configurations, either in ways that take advantage of particular features of ATLAS workloads or in generic ways that reduce the environmental impact of the computing resources. This paper describes the ongoing investigations and approaches that have already provided useful and actionable outcomes.

Original language	English
Article number	1397
Journal	European Physical Journal C
Volume	85
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14976-3
State	Published - Dec 2025

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10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14976-3

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@article{1732debc22874e74992f74d1cc23ac09,

title = "The environmental impact, carbon emissions and sustainability of computing in the ATLAS experiment",

abstract = "ATLAS, a general-purpose experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), makes use of a large internationally-distributed computing infrastructure, including over 106 TB of managed data on disk and tape and almost one million simultaneously running CPU cores. Upgrades for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will increase the required computing resources by a factor of 3–4 by the beginning of the 2030s, and by an order of magnitude before the conclusion of data taking at the beginning of the 2040s. These resources are spread over around 100 computing sites worldwide. Efforts are underway within the experiment to evaluate and mitigate various aspects of the environmental impact of the sites, with the additional long-term goal of making recommendations to the sites that will significantly reduce the total expected environmental impact in the HL-LHC era. These efforts take several forms: building awareness in the experiment community, adjusting aspects of the computing policy, and modifications of data center configurations, either in ways that take advantage of particular features of ATLAS workloads or in generic ways that reduce the environmental impact of the computing resources. This paper describes the ongoing investigations and approaches that have already provided useful and actionable outcomes.",

author = "\{ATLAS Collaboration\} and L. Zwalinski and O. Zormpa and Zorbas, \{T. G.\} and A. Zografos and K. Zoch and A. Zoccoli and L. {\v Z}ivkovi{\'c} and M. Ziolkowski and J. Zinsser and Zimine, \{N. I.\} and K. Zhukov and X. Zhuang and Y. Zhu and Y. Zhu and X. Zhu and J. Zhu and Zhu, \{C. G.\} and Y. Zhou and Y. Zhou and Y. Zhou and N. Zhou and H. Zhou and B. Zhou and D. Zhong and Z. Zheng and X. Zheng and K. Zheng and J. Zheng and A. Zhemchugov and Z. Zhao and Z. Zhao and Y. Zhao and T. Zhao and H. Zhao and Z. Zhang and Z. Zhang and Y. Zhang and Y. Zhang and Y. Zhang and Y. Zhang and T. Zhang and S. Zhang and R. Zhang and D. Tsybychev and G. Piacquadio and J. Jia and J. Hobbs and V. Dao and \{Da Via\}, C. and H. Arnold",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS Collaboration 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14976-3",

language = "English",

volume = "85",

journal = "European Physical Journal C",

issn = "1434-6044",

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AU - Zormpa, O.

AU - Zorbas, T. G.

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AU - Zoch, K.

AU - Zoccoli, A.

AU - Živković, L.

AU - Ziolkowski, M.

AU - Zinsser, J.

AU - Zimine, N. I.

AU - Zhukov, K.

AU - Zhuang, X.

AU - Zhu, Y.

AU - Zhu, X.

AU - Zhu, J.

AU - Zhu, C. G.

AU - Zhou, Y.

AU - Zhou, N.

AU - Zhou, H.

AU - Zhou, B.

AU - Zhong, D.

AU - Zheng, Z.

AU - Zheng, X.

AU - Zheng, K.

AU - Zheng, J.

AU - Zhemchugov, A.

AU - Zhao, Z.

AU - Zhao, Y.

AU - Zhao, T.

AU - Zhao, H.

AU - Zhang, Z.

AU - Zhang, Y.

AU - Zhang, T.

AU - Zhang, S.

AU - Zhang, R.

AU - Tsybychev, D.

AU - Piacquadio, G.

AU - Jia, J.

AU - Hobbs, J.

AU - Dao, V.

AU - Da Via, C.

AU - Arnold, H.

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - ATLAS, a general-purpose experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), makes use of a large internationally-distributed computing infrastructure, including over 106 TB of managed data on disk and tape and almost one million simultaneously running CPU cores. Upgrades for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will increase the required computing resources by a factor of 3–4 by the beginning of the 2030s, and by an order of magnitude before the conclusion of data taking at the beginning of the 2040s. These resources are spread over around 100 computing sites worldwide. Efforts are underway within the experiment to evaluate and mitigate various aspects of the environmental impact of the sites, with the additional long-term goal of making recommendations to the sites that will significantly reduce the total expected environmental impact in the HL-LHC era. These efforts take several forms: building awareness in the experiment community, adjusting aspects of the computing policy, and modifications of data center configurations, either in ways that take advantage of particular features of ATLAS workloads or in generic ways that reduce the environmental impact of the computing resources. This paper describes the ongoing investigations and approaches that have already provided useful and actionable outcomes.

AB - ATLAS, a general-purpose experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), makes use of a large internationally-distributed computing infrastructure, including over 106 TB of managed data on disk and tape and almost one million simultaneously running CPU cores. Upgrades for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will increase the required computing resources by a factor of 3–4 by the beginning of the 2030s, and by an order of magnitude before the conclusion of data taking at the beginning of the 2040s. These resources are spread over around 100 computing sites worldwide. Efforts are underway within the experiment to evaluate and mitigate various aspects of the environmental impact of the sites, with the additional long-term goal of making recommendations to the sites that will significantly reduce the total expected environmental impact in the HL-LHC era. These efforts take several forms: building awareness in the experiment community, adjusting aspects of the computing policy, and modifications of data center configurations, either in ways that take advantage of particular features of ATLAS workloads or in generic ways that reduce the environmental impact of the computing resources. This paper describes the ongoing investigations and approaches that have already provided useful and actionable outcomes.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105027441308

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DO - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14976-3

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105027441308

SN - 1434-6044

VL - 85

JO - European Physical Journal C

JF - European Physical Journal C

IS - 12

M1 - 1397

ER -

The environmental impact, carbon emissions and sustainability of computing in the ATLAS experiment

Abstract

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