MPs have launched a new inquiry into the sustainability of data centres in the UK, with the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) set to examine their environmental impacts as demand rises and AI adoption accelerates.
The inquiry will consider how much energy and water data centres are likely to use, how this could affect the UK’s net zero goals, and whether planning and environmental policy is adequately accounting for their impact. It will also explore the potential for new technologies and renewable energy to reduce the sector’s footprint, and what lessons the UK could learn from other countries.
The move comes as ministers continue to position data centres as central to economic growth, while policymakers face questions over how quickly their resource demands might rise and how they should be managed alongside other priorities, including grid constraints and decarbonisation.
In a letter to EAC chair Toby Perkins, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband responded to concerns that data centres had been omitted from Government projections used for the Seventh Carbon Budget (CB7). Miliband said the Government’s modelling does include potential emissions from data centres, but acknowledged uncertainty over the pace and scale of future demand.
“I can reassure you that our modelling, including for CB7, accounts for potential emissions from data centres through our projection of overall electricity demand growth, which reflects broader economic trends,” Miliband wrote.
He added, “Future demand from data centres, and interaction with wider energy system demands, remains inherently uncertain. To reflect this, our CB7 modelling will test a range of trajectories to assess the potential emissions impact under different outcomes.”
Miliband said demand assumptions are kept ‘under regular review’ with the Climate Change Committee and the National Energy System Operator, and argued that “the UK’s rapidly decarbonising power sector mitigates the emissions impact of increased electricity demand.”
Data centres have increasingly come under the spotlight for their impact on the UK’s net zero target. Even when data centres claim to be ‘green’, they’re finding themselves under more intense scrutiny, with Edinburgh City Council recently rejecting a project because it couldn’t substantiate its ‘green’ claims.
Perkins said the Committee wants to interrogate the wider consequences of approving data centres at pace, including their impact on grid queues, energy bills and competition for resources.
He noted, “Will data centres power the UK’s economic growth? Perhaps. But what kind of implications will they have for energy and the environment? How will they impact the already tortuous queues for grid connections and the Government’s plans to bring down energy bills? And what impact will their energy consumption and water usage have on the decarbonisation efforts and viability of other sectors?
“It’s critical that we really consider what the impacts of data centres will be before we charge into approving them en masse. Our inquiry will take a detailed look at the consequences of data centres for the local environment, including their water and energy use, and how the Government is taking account of their impact as they prepare plans for the next Carbon Budget. I encourage anyone with knowledge of this area to send in evidence.”
