European protesters unite against data centre expansion

Demonstrators in several European countries are protesting the expansion of data centres on Friday and Saturday, with a Danish rally planned for Lille Skensved near Køge. The demonstrations are being organised by Stop Dirty Data Centres and local groups, DR reports.

In Denmark, the protest will take place on Saturday. The Green Youth Movement is among the co-organisers. Activist Lukas Grundtvig plans to attend the rally in Lille Skensved, where Microsoft has built a data centre.

Grundtvig says international data centres are contributing to a long queue for access to the electricity grid, making it harder for other parts of society to switch to electricity. He called that a major obstacle to the green transition.

Stop Dirty Data Centres coordinator Owen Espley says the movement includes more than 100 organisations across Europe. They argue that data centres consume too much energy, have significant effects on local communities and are being developed without enough public involvement.

Europe is changing its energy system to rely more on renewable sources, Espley said, adding that meeting the additional demand from data centres could make climate targets harder to achieve. He said campaigners want politicians to involve the public in the debate, and argued that decision-makers have listened too much to technology industry lobbyists.

Grundtvig said local communities are often promised jobs but may instead face light and noise pollution, as well as the potential risk of PFAS entering groundwater. He argued that the expansion of data centres should not allow US technology companies to grow on their own terms, even though artificial intelligence can also contribute to areas such as medicine and European technology.

Opposition has grown in Denmark in recent months among residents concerned about living near new data centres. In Varde, criticism followed news that a data centre had been allowed to use a PFAS-containing coolant. In some places, municipalities have paused plans for new data centres or abandoned them.

Brit Ross Winthereik, a professor of anthropology at DTU who researches the effects of technological development on society, said critics are concerned about environmental impacts, secrecy around agreements and feeling ignored by politicians. She added that residents can feel they are in an unequal contest with technology companies, and may learn about plans too late to influence them.

Data centres contain computer servers that process and store large amounts of information. People rely on them for services including streaming, email, online payments, cloud storage and artificial intelligence tools.