Data centres in the EU: political will, local resistance

The continuing AI boom is fuelling the construction of data centres everywhere. European Commission is expected to issue a €20 billion call for tenders for the construction of several AI-dedicated ones, with EU member states able to participate. Governments are often well-disposed to data centres, but are increasingly meeting with resistance from locals concerned about their enormous energy consumption, harmful environmental impact, and lack of regulation. The recent citizens' protests in the municipality of Kronstorf, in Upper Austria, where Google is currently building its first facility in the country, is a case in point. 

France’s fast-track procedures

A review of the research done with the Pulse network partners' findings reveals that the countries have one thing in common: their governments are all in favour of data centre expansion. France, for example, is actively positioning itself as a location for AI gigafactories. According to the French national electricity grid operator, RTE, the government has already identified 65 suitable sites and a further five fast-track sites for AI-related data centres.

Former industrial sites, especially, are being promoted for this purpose, combined in some cases with connections to the electricity grid and bespoke electricity tariffs. One such site is the former Montereau-Vallée-de-la-Seine (Seine-et-Marne department) coal-fired power station, where a €4 billion hyperscale data centre is set to be built. Another is in Etrechet, near Châteauroux (Indre department), where Google is planning eight to ten data centre units covering an area of around 195 hectares; the project is in its final stage before the granting of planning permission.

On the subject of planning permission, approval times have been shortened as part of the country’s green industry reforms. The NGO La Quadrature du Net has described these reforms as a denial of democracy. In addition, the government has considered extending the existing fast-track status for projects of major national interest to include large data centres. At the same time, it was recently stipulated that planning permission can be refused if data centres exacerbate “structural pressures” on water resources.

While there is opposition to such projects, it is unevenly distributed and often confined to the areas affected. One example is La Courneuve, near Paris, where residents have protested against a data centre operated by Interxion, complaining about the noise, the risks from fuel storage, inadequate public consultation and the negligible number of local jobs created. The Google project in Châteauroux is also controversial due to environmental concerns and a lack of transparency. So far there have been no nationwide protests, however. 

Italian brownfield sites

In Italy, too, data centres are often promoted as a means of regenerating derelict industrial sites. In Pregnana Milanese, near Milan, for example, three data centres are set to be built on the sites of former Citroën, Iveco and Olivetti factories, which account for 20% of the municipality’s built-up area. OBCT reports that local authorities generally welcome the data centres for this reason. They also benefit from levies paid by the developers, and in some cases compensatory measures are agreed, by which the private sector finances public infrastructure to offset the impacts of the project.

According to the Data Centre Observatory at the Politecnico di Milano, investments totalling €25.4 billion are planned for the data centre sector in Italy between 2026 and 2028. There are currently no laws regulating the construction of new data centres. The Chamber of Deputies has passed a bill that would make the government responsible for regulating the sector, and this is currently being debated in the Senate. 

In May 2026, a regional law came into force in Lombardy, where around half of all Italian data centres are located, in the Milan area; so far, however, it is the only region to have done this. Even so, various action groups have been set up there to oppose the construction of new data centres, mainly due to concerns about increased land consumption, which is already highly intensive. These groups are currently fairly small, however.

Growing Irish opposition

The campaigns in Ireland are much bigger, partly due to the fact that the country has long been at the forefront of the EU data centre sector. A 2024 study identified around 89 operational data centres, with 11 under construction and a further 30 for which planning permission had been granted or an appeal process was underway. A recent European Commission report put the estimated total number of sites in Ireland at 123.

As reported by The Journal Investigates, operators generally have no difficulty obtaining planning permission. Indeed, the Irish government has been at pains to stress its desire to attract further data centres to the country. Until last December there was a de facto moratorium on the construction of new facilities in Dublin due to a lack of grid capacity. That did not mean that expansion had been halted, however: it just shifted the focus to natural gas. The moratorium was lifted under new rules requiring new data centres to source at least 80% of their annual electricity demand from additional renewable generation.

New data centres generally face appeals from local residents and environmental campaigners, and the lengthy appeals board process can bring projects to a virtual standstill. In many cases, the appeals are also taken to the High Court, the Republic’s highest civil and criminal court. There is resistance in Parliament too: Ireland’s main opposition parties recently tabled a motion to reinstate the moratorium. This was rejected by the government, however.

👉 Original article on Der Standard.

🤝 This article was produced as part of the PULSE collaborative project. Conor O’Carroll, The Journal Investigates (Ireland), Lola García-Ajofrín, El Confidencial (Spain); Lorenzo Ferrari, OBCT (Italy) and Gian-Paolo Accardo, Voxeurop (France) have contributed to it. 

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