In this post, Hannah shares her thoughts on the findings from recent polling by Beyond Fossil Fuels examining European citizen views on data centre impacts on energy, water and economy. She also shares the policy asks put together by Beyond Fossil Fuels who worked in collaboration with Algorithm Watch, Algorithm Watch CH (Switzerland), Friends of the Earth Ireland, TuNubeSecaMiRio, Global Action Plan and us as a result of this research.
On a personal level, I’m really happy to be writing this post in celebration of the fact we no longer need to rely on hunches that public perception around the impacts of data centres is shifting, and that people are demanding government policy to protect them and their communities.
Thanks to recent polling work commissioned by our friends at Beyond Fossil Fuels, we now have real, well-researched evidence to show that the majority of europeans polled want rules to limit new data centre impacts on energy, water and the economy.
Moving away from hunches
I was first introduced to the connection between digital infrastructure and rapidly expanding carbon emissions sometime around 2019. On discovering this, I directed my career towards raising awareness of these issues, firstly through speaking at WordPress, local tech and community events, and later on through my role here. This means over the years I’ve spoken with a lot of people about these issues and gained an insight into the general levels of awareness around the impacts.
Back in 2019, pretty much everyone I spoke to had no idea of tech’s relationship to environmental harm. Even those, who like me, had been working in tech and would describe themselves as environmentalists, were connecting the dots for the very first time.
In June 2022, I gave a talk at Pixel Pioneers Bristol, titled “How to make digital services more sustainable”. During that talk, I asked the 150+ audience to indicate how aware they were of the relationship between tech, energy use and carbon. There was a strong response. Most people in the audience showed they were aware. That was really nice, and a change since 2019. I also asked the audience how much they were aware of the relationship between tech, or more specifically data centres, and water use. That response was completely different. Silence. Only 3 or 4 people murmured any kind of awareness. Everyone else in the room looked surprised by the idea that most data centres use lots of fresh water to keep cool.
I would say a lot has changed since then.
Public awareness, and concern, around the impact of data centres on carbon emissions and water has become less fringe, more central. Take for example the hundreds of well-researched articles in popular news outlets covering the issues – here’s a recent list in Guardian. There weren’t many of those in 2019. Members of my family and social circle, who don’t work in tech but use tech, will now engage in interest when I tell them what my job is and they speak passionately about water and energy concerns in relation to data centers.
I can’t understate how meaningful the results of this polling is. It strongly supports the work we, and many other organisations, are doing to push back against the narrative that the only way to move forward economically, socially and environmentally is through more digital technologies, often expanded AI capabilities. We don’t believe this is the only way to secure a good future.
The polling’s Key findings
This research is a treasure trove of useful info. The main takeaway is that a staggering majority of those surveyed in five European countries do not want new data centres to slow down the energy transition, drain water resources and raise costs for electricity consumers, and are very
concerned about rising energy consumption from DCs.
Some of the specific findings that strike us are:
- Across all countries and demographics, the majority of respondents support mandating new data centres only be built if new renewable energy sources are created in order to power them (72%), two-thirds (64%) think data centres should not be built if they are powered with fossil fuels.
- When asked to prioritise energy access across nine sectors in the event of energy or water shortages, respondents consistently ranked data centres at the bottom. Public services including healthcare, housing, and food were seen as far more important.
- The vast majority of respondents demand higher transparency standards from data centres – 85% want them to disclose their environmental impacts, 83% their energy usage, and 83% their energy sourcing.
If you’d like to read more about these findings, how the polling was conducted and what we can take away from this hop to the Beyond Fossil Fuels website for the full briefing. You can also find links to the briefing in german and spanish.
What policy SHOULD WE ask for?
This polling and resulting briefing shows strong appetite for policy-led solutions to ensure fairer energy access, and for leadership from governments on this topic. New energy demand from data centres should not be allowed to harm the climate by relying on fossil fuels, nor raise electricity costs and compete with broader electrification efforts.
Beyond Fossil Fuels, and its coalition of advisors and partners, therefore asks policy makers to implement the following.
Energy sourcing
- No new data centres should be approved unless they run on new and additional renewable energy.
- Data centres are prohibited from building on-site gas infrastructure and connecting directly to gas networks.
- Policy support to move from an annual to hourly renewable energy accounting system, alongside investment in energy storage technologies.
Sustainable limits
- Caps on energy demand from data centres in areas where they are placing a higher burden on the grid.
- Social and environmental criteria for grid access that prioritise households, public services, and the electrification of European industries over new data centres.
- Sustainable limits on data centres’ access to water especially in areas at risk of water shortage.
- Enforced and strengthened transparency rules at EU and national level around energy and water consumption.
Costs
- Data centres and tech companies financially contribute to the energy transition through taxes on data centre energy use or profits, and through investment in energy storage technologies.
We’re definitely supportive of these asks. You might notice the close tie-in with some of our other recent posts and work in this area: Tell the EU: Keep AI within Planetary Boundaries and No Fossil Fuels in Our Tech Stacks.
We look forward to continuing to work together with Beyond Fossil Fuels and partners to advocate for recognition of these harms and sensible solutions to address them.
