Data centres threaten UK’s ability to meet climate targets, fear MPs
The UK’s Environmental Audit Committee has raised concerns that the government has not factored the energy consumption of data centres into its net zero plans.
The news comes as the country’s energy regulator Ofgem disclosed that new data centres whose developers have enquired about a connection to the grid would require more energy at peak times than the whole of Britain consumes on some days.
In a letter to the energy secretary Ed Miliband, Environmental Audit Committee chair Toby Perkins highlighted that there is no mention of data centres in the draft Seventh Carbon Budget.
The budget sets out legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions from 2038 to 2042, and would require the UK to reduce its emissions by 87% below 1990 levels on the road to net zero by 2050. The Climate Change Committee sets recommendations for how to achieve this, and the Environmental Audit Committee is currently reviewing this plan. The government will then set out the budget later this year.
Perkins asked Ed Miliband whether he had had discussions with the Climate Change Committee – which provides independent advice on emissions targets to the government – on whether projections in the Seventh Carbon Budget include the levels of energy used by data centres.
“The issue of data centres and its impact on energy use and emissions have been highlighted as a key area of concern, which is why my committee was concerned by its omission [in the Seventh Carbon Budget],” he said.
He added: “We would like to know whether this has been accounted for and how, including projections of emissions and possible mitigations.”
The Environmental Audit Committee is carrying out an inquiry on its assessment of the Seventh Carbon Budget, and Perkins said in the letter that the committee would need this information if it was to make a “meaningful contribution”.
Read more: Adaptation efforts should be driven from the centre, climate advisers tell UK government
Energy guzzlers
Data centres are huge facilities filled with the powerful computer processing units needed to run digital services, and are increasingly in demand to power the boom in artificial intelligence.
There are an estimated 450 to 500 data centres in the UK currently, and the UK government has backed plans for new data centres, which it said would be key to driving AI development and the growth of the economy. It has formally designated them critical national infrastructure, which means they cannot be blocked by local planning objections.
The US tech companies Google, Meta and Amazon are among those planning data centres in the UK.
According to The Times, Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, disclosed that it had received grid connection enquiries from 140 data centres, together requiring 50 gigawatts of capacity at peak time. Britain’s peak demand on a recent day was 45 gigawatts.
The newspaper reported that this data centre capacity is about five times higher than the government had previously assumed when planning how to meet the target of a clean power grid by 2030.
As well as environmental concerns associated with electricity usage, data centres could put strain on the grid and increase energy prices for consumers.
Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) told the BBC that emissions from data centres “are factored into our modelling”, and that it would set out the Seventh Carbon Budget by June 2026, “in line with our statutory duties”.
The Climate Change Commission told the BBC that the government had not asked it to provide advice specifically on data centres and that while the latest carbon budget and associated documents do not mention data centres, they do include a large anticipated increase in the nation’s electricity use.
Read more: UN climate change mitigation registry to enable cross-border data exchange
Government quashes planned data centre in legal case
Environmental NGOs, community groups and campaigners are increasingly turning to litigation in a bid to prevent new data centres from being built.
Last month, the government accepted it was wrong to grant planning permission for a 775,000 sq ft data centre on the western edge of Greater London, after two campaign groups brought a case against the government and the developers to the High Court. They argued that the electricity demands of the facility had not been properly considered.
In a letter sent to the court, seen by PA Media, the government conceded that the “claim is arguable and the permission should be quashed”.
In February 2025, the UK’s National Engineering Policy Centre published a report urging the government to invest in sustainable AI amid concerns about the amount of energy needed to power the technology.
Among its recommendations were the setting of environmental sustainability requirements for data centres, and a requirement for tech firms to submit accurate accounts of the electricity and water consumed in the running of their data centres.
In July last year, the UK Environment Agency said that because data centres are not required to record the amount of water they use to cool their servers, the government cannot predict how much water these centres will need over coming decades and that, as such, future shortages could be more severe than currently predicted.
Read more:
National Engineering Policy Centre report urges AI sustainability
AI makes water shortages harder to predict, says UK Environment Agency – Global Government Forum
About Mia Hunt
Mia has been editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and specialises in writing for civil and public servants worldwide, including covering sustainability policy and related issues. She has led the Global Government Women’s Network since it launched in 2023. Previously, she covered commercial property having been market reports and supplements editor at Property Week and deputy editor at Retail Destination. She graduated from Kingston University London with a first-class honours degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
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