Activists across Europe prepare two days of protests against datacentres
Summary
More than 100 groups plan protests against datacentre projects in 15 European countries on Friday and Saturday. Organisers want a pause on large developments, citing environmental and social concerns; technology companies say datacentres create jobs and support AI development.Key Facts
- The campaign, called “Stop Dirty Data Centres,” includes demonstrations in 15 countries.
- Planned actions include protests in Warsaw and Dublin, a demonstration outside a Microsoft datacentre in Denmark, and events near planned or opposed projects in Amsterdam and east London.
- Organisers expect attendance to range from a handful of people to several hundred at larger events.
- Groups backing the protests include Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the London-based campaign group Foxglove.
- Research by Germany’s Öko-Institut projects that carbon dioxide emissions from AI datacentres will reach six times their 2023 level by 2030.
- The article says AI datacentres in the UK could produce up to 123 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 10 years.
- The article reports that 315 datacentres in the UK are waiting to connect to the power grid, with a combined demand of 73 gigawatts, compared with a national peak demand of 45 gigawatts.
- The article says about 250 global datacentre projects requiring more than 100 megawatts each were announced from 2021 to 2024, with North American projects dominating the queue.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
