Greens call for pause on new data centre approvals over water and energy consumption concerns
"We need to slam the brakes on these energy guzzling, water guzzling data centres."
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for a pause on approvals of new data centres in England over concerns about the amount of water and energy they use.
Polanski said the government needs to introduce stricter environmental rules and give communities more say on whether the centres are built in their area.
This comes after the government approved a new data centre in Brick Lane, London, amid strong opposition from local residents.
To cool their systems, data centres use large amounts of water, while also consuming significant amounts of electricity to cool the water in the first place.
There are no official figures on how much water UK data centres consume.
According to US-based organisation, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, in the US, large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
There are around 477 data centres in the UK, many of which are based around London and the South East, which remains in a drought due to the low rainfall and extreme heat in recent months.
Speaking on a visit to the site of a proposed data centre in East London, Polanski told the BBC: “We need to slam the brakes on these energy guzzling, water guzzling data centres.
“Essentially, we need basically a moratorium other than local scale data centres for the local community.
“At a time when three-quarters of the country are in drought, it is outrageous that these are being considered critical infrastructure.
“To most people critical infrastructure means hospitals, water, electricity. It doesn’t mean Artificial Intelligence.”
Data centres, which are used for running banking systems, as well as for AI and social media, were designated as critical national infrastructure in 2024.
This means they get extra government support during incidents like cyber-attacks or extreme weather.
The Greens argue this means they could get priority over households for water. The government has said data centres would not automatically get priority during water shortages.
A government spokesperson said a pause on data centres “would be a disaster for jobs and national security”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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