Datacentre developers are facing pressure to disclose whether their projects will increase the UK’s net greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns the sites could double national electricity demand.
Campaign groups have written to the UK’s technology secretary, Liz Kendall, warning that the energy required for new AI infrastructure poses a “serious threat to efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid”.
Developers must demonstrate that their projects will not increase overall UK CO2 emissions or local water depletion as part of the upcoming National Policy Statement (NPS) on datacentres, the letter said.
“Without these commitments, such large electricity use would inevitably generate huge climate emissions,” the campaigners write.
The letter is signed by five other NGOs, including Foxglove, a group that campaigns against big tech dominance, and environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth.
This week, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee announced an investigation into the environmental sustainability of datacentres and published a letter from the Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, in which he said future energy demand from datacentres “remains inherently uncertain”. The UK is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, meaning total greenhouse gas emissions will be equal to what the UK removes from the atmosphere.
Great Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem recently published a calculation that the amount of electricity demanded by new datacenter projects will exceed the current peak of national electricity consumption. Ofgem said in a consultation this month that some 140 proposed datacentre schemes powered by the use of artificial intelligence could require up to 50GW of electricity – 5GW more than Great Britain’s current peak demand.
The letter said datacentres planned for Elsham in Lincolnshire and Cambois in Northumberland would each have a power demand of 1GW, equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station, which would need to be met by new, renewable energy generation.
The UK is going through a datacenter boom amid an AI-related investment spree. Datacenters represent the central nervous system of AI tools like chatbots and image generators, which play a vital role in the training and operation of products like ChatGPT and Gemini, but they require significant amounts of power for their servers and water to cool them.
Campaigners also cite the example of a proposed new Google datacentre in Essex, which is expected to emit more than half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of about 500 short-haul flights.
The letter said: “With an estimated 100-200 proposed new datacentres already in the planning system, it is vital that the NPS fully acknowledges and addresses these challenges, to ensure that the public and the climate do not have to foot the environmental bill for these facilities.”
The UK has set a goal of creating a virtually carbon-free electricity system by 2030, a target that is already in doubt amid concerns over the country’s rising electricity costs.
The letter calls for a framework for calculating the environmental impact of datacentres, as well as requiring developers to fund the build-out of renewable energy generation related to their proposals.
It also calls for the prevention of “greenwashing”, which could include avoiding the creation of new green energy capacity by purchasing renewable energy certificates. These certifications show that a company is purchasing green energy that matches a portion of their demand, even if the energy they actually use is drawn from the general grid – including fossil-fuel-powered electricity.
A government spokesperson said the datacentres are driving economic growth and will help the UK address environmental challenges, while a recently formed energy committee will help source renewable energy for the projects.
“Datacentres will increasingly be powered by renewable energy and our AI Energy Council is exploring opportunities to attract investment in new clean energy sources for the industry, while the planning system takes water scarcity into account,” the spokesperson said.
