Environmental campaigners call on UK gov to enforce stricter data center emissions rules

Data center operators should admit whether infrastructure projects will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and impact the UK's net zero ambitions, campaigners have told the government.

A group of environmental and social justice activists have written to the UK technology secretary Liz Kendall saying the build-out to power AI could disrupt plans to decarbonize the country's electricity grid.

Because of that, new projects should be forced by the government to show how projects won't lead to an increase in emissions or cause water shortages.

At the moment, the UK government is working on a national policy statement (NPS) on data centers. Activist groups including Foxglove and Friends of the Earth would like that document to include a framework to assess the broader environmental impact of data centers.

This would include assessments of water and power use, Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, as well as the introduction of new rules aimed at banning data centers from increasing emissions or water scarcity.

Campaigners expect the NPS to be published for consultation in the coming months, but hundreds of new data center development projects are already underway.

“Without these commitments, such vast electricity use will inevitably generate vast climate emissions,” the campaigners said in a letter to Kendall and shared with ITPro.

The call for stricter environmental and energy rules for data centers comes amid a massive rush to build infrastructure to power national AI ambitions.

On both sides of the Atlantic, national and local governments have faced significant pushback from campaigners over the environmental and economic impact on local communities.

Stricter data center rules needed

Campaigners want the requirements to apply to major data centers above 1MW, noting that AI infrastructure's demands differ from previous designs.

"The new generation of ‘hyperscale’ data centers currently being planned across the UK are on a very different scale to the facilities in place today," the letter noted, pointing to plans for infrastructure in Elsham in Lincolnshire and Cambois in Northumberland, which will each have a demand for electricity of 1GW.

"By way of context, the peak winter electricity demand for the entirety of the UK is around 47GW.”

"This additional demand – unless meaningfully matched with new, renewable energy generation and storage – poses a serious threat to efforts to decarbonize the UK’s electricity grid," the letter said.

Google's proposed data center in Essex, for example, could lead to a “net increase in GHG emissions of 568,727 tonnes CO2е per year during the operational phase”, according to the company’s planning documents.

To avoid increasing emissions, data center developers should prove how they will increase renewable energy supply – by building generation or by funding it – and to fully describe how cooling systems will work.

"Measures to prevent the use of ‘greenwashing’ in claiming the data center is carbon-neutral, for example through the purchase of renewable energy certificates or the use of power purchase agreements which do not result in the construction of additional generating capacity," they added.

The letter was also signed by Global Justice Now, Global Action Plan, Opportunity Green, and the Green Web Foundation.

Government response

Whether the government listens to such concerns remains to be seen, but signs suggest environmental and energy impact of this infrastructure build-out is raising concerns, at least for some politicians.

Indeed, MPs last week launched an inquiry into the environmental impact of data centers in the UK, in particular energy and water use.

In response, energy secretary Ed Miliband last week said the UK's grid decarbonization efforts should already mitigate any emissions from increased electricity demand, but admitted that energy use from data centers remains "inherently uncertain."

A government spokesperson told the Guardian that such data centers would help boost the economy and address environmental issues, too.

"Datacenters will increasingly be powered by renewables and our AI energy council is exploring opportunities to attract investment in new clean power sources for the industry, while the planning system takes water scarcity into account," the spokesperson added.

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