Why the UK government must include data centres in its decarbonisation plans 

Our submission with Foxglove and Global Action Plan to the Environmental Audit Committee of the UK Parliament challenges the lack of inclusion of data centres in the UK government’s decarbonisation plans.  

Background 

Data centre energy demand is growing rapidly, putting a strain on government capacity to decarbonise anywhere these plants are located. The UK has the third most data centres in the world, just behind the US and Germany – and another 100 are currently at planning stage.  

The UK government is actively encouraging this expansion, but the significant increase in electricity required is not yet part of the carbon budgets drawn up by the UK’s Committee on Climate Change.  

Opportunity Green, Foxglove and Global Action Plan submitted to the Environmental Audit Committee to ask them to ensure the demand for energy from data centres is accounted for in the UK’s decarbonisation plans.  

What’s in the briefing?  

• Under law, the UK sets ‘carbon budgets’ every five years which reduce UK emissions down to net zero. But the current carbon budget process, the Seventh Carbon Budget, makes no allowance for the appearance of a novel new demand for electricity in the form of data centres. 

• Yet surging data centre installation and operation across the UK, with at least 100 installations planned, creates substantial new demands for electricity. Details from data centre planning proposals that have been submitted across the UK, if built and operated, could imply an additional electricity demand for the UK equivalent to almost the whole of Denmark. 

• Data centre electricity demand is unusual in being both very high, and continual. Pressure is on data centre operators to go for quick solutions to this, frequently now meaning fossil fuel power sources. Current industry self-regulation is inadequate and so there is a risk of substantial carbon emissions that challenge decarbonisation efforts inside UK carbon budgets. 

Our recommendations  

1. The Committee on Climate Change resolves the incomplete and potentially inaccurate data availability for data centre GHG emissions with comprehensive, empirically-grounded modelling on data centre energy demand. 

2. The carbon budget process makes explicit use of these models of data centre GHGs in considering the UK’s permitted carbon allowances inside the carbon budgeting framework.  

3. The government’s planning for data centre expansion should make reference to the carbon budget to ensure any data centre expansion is still in line with the UK’s carbon goals.