Thirty-five MEPs have urged the EU Commission to scrap an “unlawful” confidentiality clause which hides the environmental impact of individual data centres — in the wake of an investigation led by Investigate Europe.
In a letter sent on Tuesday (19 May) citing the revelations, MEPs from across the bloc, including Germany’s Alexandra Geese (Greens) and Lynn Boylan (The Left) from Ireland, denounced the commission for bowing to industry lobbying.
They accuse the commission of breaching public access to information rules by amending a law intended to bring transparency to a rapidly-expanding sector.
The piece of 2024 legislation requires large data centre operators to report key data like energy and water use, but after successful pushback by Microsoft and other tech giants, information on specific facilities is kept confidential.
Tech companies have claimed this protects commercial business interests, while elected officials argue that risks violating agreements by keeping environmental data in the dark.
“Given that the commission intends to triple its data centre capacity within the next five years, it is extremely worrying that vital information regarding the environmental impact of data centres is being withheld from the public,” the signatories wrote.
MEPs cited the reasoning of 10 legal experts who told Investigate Europe the secrecy clause likely breaches the Aarhus Convention and laws on access to information.
As such, they condemned the provision as “unlawful” in an accompanying email.
The letter also referenced an internal commission email, obtained by Investigate Europe, in which a senior official told national authorities they were “obliged to keep confidential” all individual data centre information.
MEPs said this falls short in striking the required balance between commercial confidentiality and the public interest.
“What is Big Tech hiding? Transparency around electricity and water consumption is the basis for a good data centre strategy in Europe,” German MEP Geese told Investigate Europe. “Prohibiting citizens and local government from making informed decisions around data centres is the wrong way to go in a democracy.”
Investigate Europe and partners including EUobserver, Le Monde, the Guardian, El País, The Journal Investigates and Corporate Europe Observatory revealed last month how the legislative text mirrored nearly word-for-word a proposal submitted by Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobby group representing tech giants like Amazon, Google and Meta, among others.
Lawmakers called on EU environment commissioner Jessika Roswall to “delete Microsoft’s amendment and ensure transparency regarding the environmental impact of data centres.”
With the commission now updating the relevant piece of legislation and signalling it intends to keep the secrecy clause largely intact, the signatories are pushing for removal before the revision is finalised.
This piece is published in conjunction with our partner, Investigate Europe.
