Google developers significantly misstate carbon emissions of proposed UK datacentres
Summary
Google and another company, Greystoke, have provided planning documents for large AI data centers in the UK that understate how much carbon these facilities will emit. Experts found that these companies compared one year of data center emissions to the UK’s carbon budget for five years, making their impact seem five times smaller than it is.Key Facts
- Google plans two large data centers in Essex: one in Thurrock (130 acres) and one at North Weald airfield.
- These data centers’ carbon emissions were incorrectly presented as a smaller part of the UK’s total emissions.
- The error comes from comparing one year of emissions to a five-year UK carbon budget.
- Greystoke is planning a large data center in north Lincolnshire that made the same mistake.
- Together, the three data centers will emit over 1% of the UK’s carbon budget by 2033, similar to the size of a mid-sized city’s emissions.
- Google said its Thurrock data center emissions will be 0.033% of the UK’s budget but actual emissions are about 0.165%.
- The North Weald data center emissions were understated as 0.043% but will be about 0.215%.
- Greystoke’s Lincolnshire site stated 0.1043% emissions but the real figure is about 0.5215%.
- Local officials plan to review these figures and require accurate emissions data in future submissions.
- These data centers are officially labeled as having a minor negative effect on the UK’s climate goals, but some emissions are close to the level of major UK sources, like domestic flights.
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