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Over 100 rights groups across 15 European countries will protest the rapid development of energy-hungry data centres, calling for an immediate moratorium on new large-scale projects until clearer rules governing them are put in place.
The Stop Dirty Data Centres protests are taking place this Friday and Saturday (6-7 November), with actions planned in Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom.
The organisers say the action comes “amid growing concerns about the impact of data centre expansion on local communities, public infrastructure, land, water and energy use, housing, jobs and the cost of living”.
“Today, communities across Europe who have been challenging the imposition of energy, water and land-hungry data centres where they live are arriving on the European political stage,” said Owen Espley, coordinator of StopDirtyDataCentres.eu.
The protests come hot on the heels of this week’s US mid-term elections, which saw data centres and their impact on local communities and the environment become a decisive issue.
Democrats won control of the US Congress in a landslide victory on the promise to halt further AI centre development and rein in Big Tech, while their Republican counterparts were seen as encouraging US firms to build data centres anywhere and any way they saw fit.
Voters in the US, but also many in Europe, are worried about the impact data centre projects have on their own lives, such as driving up energy bills and putting already scarce water resources under more pressure due to their intensive energy and water demands.
Those living nearby data centres are also put off by their environmental impact, with air pollution from backup generators, heavy construction traffic, as well as their unappealing designs and the constant 24/7 drone of the machines inside.
“By coming together, campaigns facing an uphill struggle against the power of Big Tech – too often backed by decision-makers – are showing they can push back against the race to build data centres,” said Espley.
“They are calling on political leaders to implement moratoria on large-scale data centres at European, national and local levels so their concerns can be addressed and the impacts of data centres properly scrutinised,” he added.
Environmentalists, digital rights groups and civil society organisations and many others are taking part in the protest, organising demonstrations, public meetings, stalls, petitions, walking tours, cycle rides, poetry readings and other actions.
Europe is ramping up the roll-out of data centres as it aims to catch up with the US and China in the race to develop and deploy artificial intelligence technologies.
Annual investment in data centre projects in Europe has risen from €12 billion in 2020 to €25-26 billion this year, with total spending expected to hit €176 billion between 2026 and 2031, according to the PwC Global Data Centre Outlook 2026-2050.