Two planned datacentres will have higher UK carbon emissions than ExxonMobil, analysis finds
Summary
Two planned datacentres in England are expected to produce more carbon emissions than ExxonMobil’s total UK emissions. Experts warn this could harm the UK’s climate goals, as these datacentres will use a lot of power and some plan to run on their own gas-fired power stations.Key Facts
- The Wapseys Wood and Quest Park datacentres will use 1.3 gigawatts of power and produce over 4.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
- ExxonMobil’s UK emissions in 2023 were 3.9 million tonnes.
- There are 315 datacentres waiting to connect to the UK electricity grid, which would demand 73 gigawatts—almost twice the UK’s peak winter energy use.
- Due to delays in connecting to the grid, the two datacentres plan to build their own gas power plants on-site.
- The government says the emissions estimates are misleading because they assume the datacentres operate at full capacity from the start.
- Critics argue that it is reasonable to estimate emissions at full capacity since that is the goal for these datacentres.
- The government claims there are ways to meet climate targets despite datacentre growth, but uncertainty remains.
- The two datacentres are being fast-tracked by the government, bypassing local planning, which has raised concerns among campaigners and politicians.
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