Before the protests, organizations publicly raised the issue of transparency regarding resource consumption: Lighthouse Reports filed a complaint against the European Commission, arguing that information about the energy and water used by data centers is not sufficiently accessible for each site due to rules related to commercial secrecy. The complaint will be examined in November by the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention.
At the same time, authorities intervened in specific environmental cases: in Finland, the environmental monitoring agency asked Google to suspend preparatory work for data centers planned in Muhos and Kajaani, after more than 300 hectares had allegedly been cleared without the mandatory impact assessment. Google acknowledged that it had not complied with its internal standards and announced that it would follow the authorities’ instructions.
In Western Europe as well, projects encountered difficulties related to energy infrastructure: Microsoft abandoned an agreement for a data center in the United Kingdom, in the Loughton area (Essex), citing delays and problems connecting to the electricity grid.
