Datacentres facing increase in global climate-related legal cases, report finds
Summary
A report by the London School of Economics shows that legal cases related to climate change are increasingly targeting datacentres worldwide, focusing on their energy use, water consumption, and pollution. Countries like Chile, Ireland, the US, and the UK have seen lawsuits that challenge how datacentres operate and push for cleaner, renewable energy sources.Key Facts
- About 3,600 climate-related legal cases since 2015 include many against datacentres.
- In Santiago, Chile, a lawsuit stopped Google’s datacentre project due to concerns over water supply and climate impacts.
- Ireland uses over 20% of its electricity on datacentres, and groups are legally challenging government decisions to allow fossil fuel use in this sector.
- US cities like Pittsburg require datacentres to use renewable energy and recycled water, and lawsuits exist in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi related to fossil fuel use and pollution.
- In Mississippi, a lawsuit alleges Elon Musk’s xAI company violates air pollution laws by using methane gas generators without permits.
- In the UK, legal action halted a large datacentre project in Buckinghamshire over concerns about its environmental impact; the government admitted process flaws.
- The report says litigation helps reveal environmental impacts and can push datacentres to switch to renewable energy, even if cases don’t always stop projects.
- The lawsuits aim to prevent long-term reliance on fossil fuels in energy-intensive datacentres.
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