“Data centres are becoming a major infrastructure in Europe, and by the way across the world, with growing electricity and growing water demand, which actually account already for about 3% of the used electricity demand, expected to rise further (...) so what we want to do is to ensure that the expansion of AI, of cloud computing and digital infrastructure aligns with our climate and sustainability objectives”, said European Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho on Friday 22 May.
The spokesperson continued to say that this is the objective of the Act dedicated to the energy efficiency of data centres currently being drawn up, in response to concerns raised this week by French MEP Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe).
The MEP has called for nuclear energy and hydroelectricity to be included in the mandatory sustainability label for European data centres, provided for in the future delegated regulation on the energy efficiency of data centres (see EUROPE 13872/16).
“This is a first of its kind, because we are asking precisely for reporting on the efficiency of the operation of the data centres and therefore increasing transparency and making it comparable across data centres”, explained the Commission spokesperson. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)