On Monday 21 September, the European Commission presented a delegated act establishing the criteria for a sustainability label for data centres located in the European Union – around 2,800 to date, according to the Data Center Map. This is intended to “increase transparency” regarding their energy and water consumption. “Data centres are one of the world's fastest growing sectors, consuming around 68 TWh of the EU’s electricity in 2024 alone”, according to the Commission’s partial data, based on 770 European data centres.
EU data centres will be asked, on a voluntary basis, to report data on their efficiency in the use of energy and water resources in order to obtain a rating from A to G. Contrary to what some had feared (see EUROPE 13872/16), the European Commission has chosen to include all “low-emission” energy sources, that is to say both renewable energy and nuclear energy. “We want data centres to contribute to the energy transition”, a Commission official said.
During the first reporting phase analysed by the Commission in an impact assessment, only 36% of data centres had reported their data to the European database.
The proposal in the form of a delegated act means that the European Parliament and the Council of the EU have two months to examine it and, if necessary, oppose it before it enters into force on 11 December. However, neither co-legislator can propose amendments to the text. The Commission wants the first labels to be displayed in 2027.
This move comes at a time when “the EU wants to triple its data centre capacity over the next five to seven years”, according to the Commission. Even so, it is pushing back the regulation on minimum performance standards for data centres to the second quarter of 2027. It will “not be a matter of defining the level of excellence, but the minimum threshold that must not be crossed”, a Commission official said.
A call for evidence is open until 14 December and meetings with stakeholders are already planned to help shape this legislative framework. The first expert meeting will be held on 15 October.
To see the delegated act and its annex: https://aeur.eu/f/nj4
The call for evidence: https://aeur.eu/f/nj0
And the impact assessment: https://aeur.eu/f/nj2 (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)