EU Datacenters Go Dark: Tech Giants Hide Green Impact

An investigation reveals that Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully influenced the European Union to conceal the environmental impact of their datacenters. Industry demands to block public access to a database of green metrics were incorporated almost verbatim into EU rules during 2024. This secrecy provision significantly obstructs independent scrutiny of the pollution emitted by individual datacenters, leaving researchers with only national-level data on their energy consumption.

The surge in AI technologies has fueled rapid datacentre construction, increasing demand for energy, often met by fossil fuels. Legal experts express concern that the broad confidentiality clause may conflict with EU transparency regulations and the Aarhus convention on public access to environmental information. Professor Jerzy Jendrośka, an environmental law expert, noted the clause's apparent deviation from convention principles.

Documents obtained by Investigate Europe show the clause has already been invoked to prevent public access to datacentre data. In 2025, a senior commission official reminded national authorities of their obligation to maintain confidentiality, citing the clause after refusing media and public requests for information. Despite the EU's aim to triple datacentre capacity within five to seven years to support its AI ambitions, the added guidance for datacentre operators to report key performance indicators has been undermined by this confidentiality measure.

Industry groups, including Microsoft, DigitalEurope, and Video Games Europe, were among those lobbying for the classification of individual datacentre data as confidential, citing commercial interests. This lobbying effort resulted in a final rule stating that such information, considered confidential, would not be accessible even through freedom of information requests. Researchers highlight the difficulty in quantifying the environmental footprint of AI due to this lack of public data.

While the EU executive views the regulation as a preliminary step towards a common datacentre rating scheme, future phases are planned to publish sustainability scores. However, under current proposals, most reported data would remain confidential. Sources suggest the commission fears operators might cease reporting if their data were made public, despite only 36% of eligible datacenters currently complying with existing requirements.