EU Yields to Tech Giants on Datacentre Emissions Secrecy

Microsoft and other US tech companies have successfully lobbied the European Union to conceal the environmental impact of their datacentres, an investigation has revealed. The EU has incorporated demands to block a database of green metrics from public view almost verbatim into its rules, following industry lobbying in 2024.

The secrecy provision hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit, leaving researchers with only national-level summaries of their energy footprints. The rise of AI chatbots has driven a boom in the construction of power-hungry datacentres, with many relying on fossil gas to meet their energy needs.

Transparency Concerns

Legal scholars warn that the blanket confidentiality clause may contravene EU transparency rules and the Aarhus convention on public access to environmental information. Prof Jerzy Jendrośka, who spent 19 years on the body overseeing the convention, stated, In two decades, I cannot recall a comparable case. This clearly seems not to be in line with the convention.

Documents obtained by Investigate Europe show that the rules have already been used to shield datacentres from scrutiny. A senior commission official cited the secrecy clause in an email last year, reminding national authorities of their obligation to keep confidential all information and key performance indicators for individual datacentres.

Industry Lobbying

The US and China are leading the global AI boom, with Europe also experiencing rapid growth in datacentre construction. The EU aims to triple its datacentre capacity in the next five to seven years to position itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence.

In 2023, the commission updated its energy efficiency directive to require datacentre operators to report key performance indicators. However, during public consultations in January 2024, tech companies pushed to classify all individual information on datacentres as confidential, citing commercial interests.

The final text of the article differs by just a few words from industry demands, stating that the commission and member states concerned shall keep confidential all information and key performance indicators for individual datacentres that are communicated to the database … Such information shall be considered confidential information affecting the commercial interests of operators and owners of datacentres.

Industry submissions during the public consultation reveal that Microsoft, DigitalEurope, and Video Games Europe lobbied for the change. Ben Youriev, a researcher at InfluenceMap, said that this is an example of how the tech sector is reckoning with a shift towards using more energy.

Response to Criticism

Microsoft stated that it supports greater transparency around datacentres, as sustainability disclosures can drive better outcomes and build public trust. A spokesperson said, We are taking further steps to increase openness, while protecting confidential business information. DigitalEurope did not respond to a request for comment, while the commission and Video Games Europe declined to comment.

The EU executive considers the regulation a first step towards creating a common EU rating scheme for datacentres. In a second phase, it plans to publish sustainability scores from the database to make it easier to compare different datacentres in a same region and promote new designs or appropriate efficiency in datacentres. However, under the current proposals, the majority of what operators report would remain confidential.