Synopsis
The European Commission denies allegations of copying industry lobbyists' proposals for data centre environmental impact rules. A probe suggests tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta influenced a decision to keep individual data centre information secret. The Commission admits using stakeholder advice but insists the core intention of respecting business secrets remains. Aggregated national data is now publicly available.A press investigation alleged Brussels had added a confidentiality clause to a review of energy efficiency rules after pressure from Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobby whose members include Amazon, Google and Meta.
"We reject the accusation of ad verbatim copy-pasting of industry lobbying," said commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.
The commission moved to regulate the fast-growing data centre sector in 2023 requiring operators to submit data on energy consumption, water usage and other metrics -- and later said this would be published in aggregated form.
But in 2024 it took up a submission by tech companies requiring all individual information on data centres be classified, according to an investigation led by Investigate Europe, a journalism cooperative, in partnership with The Guardian, Le Monde and other media.
As a consequence, information on the precise impact of individual data centres is kept from the public even if demanded through freedom of information requests -- in a possible breach of EU transparency rules, the report said.
Only aggregated national data is made public.
The commission admitted it took some of the tech companies' advice, but denied that altered the substance of the law.
"As part of the consultation, the commission decided to change the formulation... by using parts of the proposals submitted by stakeholders," Itkonen said.
"We kept the original core intention of the first proposal: to respect business secrets and confidentiality of the reported information and data."
The commission has fulfilled its obligation to create a public dashboard and present the available data in aggregated form and recently presented a proposal for a rating scheme for data centres, she added.
