Rights Groups Plan European Protests Demanding Moratorium on New Data Centres

More than 100 civil society groups across 15 European nations are launching coordinated demonstrations on 6 and 7 November to demand an immediate halt to the construction of large-scale data centres. Organisers under the banner of Stop Dirty Data Centres are calling for European, national, and local moratoria on new facilities until comprehensive rules governing their resource consumption are established.

The protest movement comes as investment in European digital infrastructure reaches record levels. According to figures from the PwC Global Data Centre Outlook 2026-2050, annual expenditure on European data centre projects increased from €12 billion in 2020 to between €25 billion and €26 billion this year. Total spending across the continent is projected to reach €176 billion between 2026 and 2031 as European authorities seek to match artificial intelligence capabilities in China and the United States.

Actions are scheduled across several states, including Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. Planned activities include public meetings, cycle rides, petitions, walking tours, and street stalls. Owen Espley, coordinator of StopDirtyDataCentres.eu, stated that local campaigns facing the expansion of tech infrastructure were uniting to demand political scrutiny over how land, water, and power resources are allocated.

Campaigners cite a wide range of local impacts resulting from the expansion of computing infrastructure. Organisers report that intensive electricity and water usage by computational facilities increases pressure on municipal supplies and contributes to higher utility bills for households. Residents living near existing sites have also raised concerns regarding air emissions from backup power generators, traffic from heavy construction, and continuous operational noise from cooling systems.

The European demonstrations follow recent political shifts in the United States, where data centre expansion became a prominent campaign issue during the midterm elections. Candidates from the Democratic Party secured control of the US Congress after pledging to restrict further artificial intelligence facility development and increase oversight of tech companies, while Republican candidates advocated for fewer regulatory constraints on commercial data centre construction.

Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com