EU set to weaken data centre climate rules after Big Tech lobbying

The European Union is preparing to soften proposed climate regulations for data centres, allowing operators to use a broader range of energy certificates — including those tied to nuclear power — to offset emissions from gas-powered facilities, according to the latest draft proposal reported by the Financial Times on Wednesday.ft+1

The move represents a departure from earlier, stricter proposals that would have required data centres to match their energy consumption with renewable energy certificates on a more granular basis. Those requirements have been dropped following lobbying from Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 0.37% Web Services, Microsoft ↗ 0.43%, and the European Data Centre Association, which argued the original rules would impose excessive costs.tradersunion+1

What Changed

Under the revised framework, a data centre running overnight on a coal-connected grid in Germany could claim to offset its emissions using certificates from solar energy generated during the daytime in Spain. Critics say such temporal and geographic mismatches do little to reduce actual emissions.tradersunion

Killian Daly, executive director of the think tank EnergyTag, warned that if data centres do not procure new, localized renewable energy that matches their real-time consumption, they will drive up demand for imported gas, raise energy prices, and compromise energy security.tradersunion

The updated proposal also broadens the pool of acceptable certificates to include nuclear power, a change that would particularly benefit France.tradersunion

Growing Environmental Concerns

The policy shift comes as major tech companies face mounting scrutiny over their environmental footprints. Amazon disclosed this week that emissions from its electricity consumption rose 34 percent between 2024 and 2025, while Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.16% reported a 37 percent increase in grid-based electricity emissions.tradersunion

The European Environment Agency has cautioned that "the swift growth of AI poses an increasing hurdle to achieving climate neutrality". Data centre capacity in the EU is projected to more than double by 2030, from 12 GW to 28 GW.politico+1

Broader Context

The development follows earlier lobbying victories for the technology industry. An investigation by Investigate Europe and Le Monde in April revealed that Microsoft and DigitalEurope secured a confidentiality clause in EU regulations that blocks public access to information about individual data centres' environmental performance. MEPs accused the European Commission of "copy-pasting" industry lobbying language into law.euronews+2

The EU has simultaneously outlined plans to triple data centre processing capacity over seven years, underscoring the tension between its digital ambitions and climate commitments.tradersunion