BRUSSELS — Brussels on Monday unveiled an environmental rating scheme for data centers that power artificial intelligence, a move the EU's energy chief described as the first step in pressuring tech giants into aligning with the continent’s climate efforts. The new rules, which will apply from August 2027, oblige big data centers to display a label grading them on their energy efficiency, water usage and clean power uptake on a scale of A to G, much like the EU's influential appliances ranking. The new label is optional for smaller data centers, “but later we are also going to introduce minimum performance standards which, of course, will put more pressure on those who may not voluntarily wish to be as sustainable as we want them to,” he added.
While Australia and Singapore already have schemes rating the energy efficiency of data centers, the Commission's new label would be the most comprehensive worldwide — asking tech companies to be transparent not only about their power use but also their impact on the local and global environment via information on how much water they consume, how clean their electricity is, whether they reuse the heat they generate and more. The EU executive's performance standards, which the Commission wants to present in spring 2027, are expected to tighten the screws by setting mandatory sustainability thresholds for newly built or retrofitted data centers. Those two initiatives are an attempt at ensuring the European Union can compete in the artificial intelligence race without sacrificing its commitment to climate neutrality in 2050, Jørgensen said.
Data centers are already hoovering up 2.5% of the bloc’s electricity use, a share expected to double in the coming years, he noted. The two institutions have two months to object to the regulation, however. The label will be generated automatically each year from figures companies are already required to report under the bloc's energy efficiency rules, though an accompanying Commission report acknowledges that compliance with those rules is low: Only 36% of sites in the EU disclose required data.
Data center operators have lobbied against the Commission's plans. The European Data Center Association in April warned that the requirements would kill investment and in June insisted that the bloc must prioritize AI ambitions over its climate goals. Earlier this year, a Commission document seen by POLITICO indicated that around 20 percent of Europe’s data centers could land at the bottom of the new rating scheme.
But Jørgensen urged tech companies to view EU efforts to regulate their environmental impact as an "opportunity" that could help them win over a skeptical public. In the United States, a backlash is mounting against AI infrastructure, in part over its voracious appetite for energy and water. Similar protests are starting to emerge in Europe.
Still, government efforts such as Spain’s recent move toward forcing data centers to provide a share of their own renewable power are “a part of the solution in many places, because the consumption of these data centers will be so big,” he added. Overall, Jørgensen said, the EU wants to avoid developments such as in the U.S., where data centers are increasing the demand for polluting fossil fuels.
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