New policy coming on data centres, City Hall says

City Hall is to set a new stance on new data centres in London, due to concerns about their vast power and water usage, officials have confirmed.

It is estimated that every 10 power-hungry data centres could result in 2.7million tonnes of carbon emissions, with further concerns about their substantial water usage.

In the UK, 60 out of 100 such units – which house IT infrastructure such as servers – are currently planned for London.

Megan Life, assistant director, environment and energy at the Greater London Authority (GLA), has confirmed City Hall is developing a new approach that would balance any economic benefits with environmental damage.

She told the London Assembly Environment Committee the policy would aim to "keep hold of the kind of economic growth benefits that data centres offer", while trying to mitigate against some "quite challenging" factors associated with their use of energy.

Deputy mayor for the Environment, Mete Coban, added that data centres brought both "big benefits" and "massive challenges" for the capital, particularly on energy and water consumption levels.

"It's not just a London problem, it's going to be a global problem," he said.

"It's about making sure that our environment doesn't suffer in the hands of a few global corporations who will take and not give back so we want to make sure we do this in an equitable way."

Last month the committee heard that data centre construction was "undermining" the mayor's climate goals, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Sir Sadiq Khan confirmed last year he had commissioned a study to forecast data centre growth in London to inform future policy.

The mayor previously said he recognised the economic importance of data centres but also the additional pressure they put on industrial land, electricity and water supply.

In December, the London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee demanded a standalone policy for data centres in the next London Plan, suggesting several housing projects in west London had been stalled because of data centres using all available electrical grid capacity.

Last month, MPs launched a new inquiry into the environmental impacts of data centres in the UK after Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the impact of the rapid expansion of data centres on the UK's efforts to lower carbon emissions to net zero was "inherently uncertain".

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