How Big Tech wrote secrecy into EU law to hide data centres' environmental toll

_ache_

A french article on the same subject, but paywalled. https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2026/04/17/comm...

johndunne

I find this facet of Capitalism the most concerning; fiduciary responsibility to the shareholder. It breaks the link between people and matters that concern society (like the environment, in the case of this article). In the drive to increase profit, individual legislators can be convinced to tweak a law or two for 'greater economic growth' somewhere. Over the decades, the effect is a shift in political power away from the people and into industry and ultimately into the hands of a few. I've come to think that this is what we're witnessing in the US. While we're not looking, the landscape is changing behind the scenes. Bram Vranken's quote from the article is poignant: 'Who does the Commission really represent: Big Tech or the public interest?' I often wonder what can be done by us (i.e. all people) to push back and it mostly requires a lot of effort from everyone; participation in Democracy.

jimnotgym

I have complete confidence the EU will realise this may violate transparency laws, it will go to court in 7-8 years, publish a response in the next 5 finally getting this law fixed in about 2040. They always get these things right, in the end

nDRDY

I wonder if this is less about the environmental impact (which can be greenwashed as necessary), and more about the power consumption of individual data centres.

Artoooooor

Of course, transparency for thee but not for me.

blitzar

I forget, am i meant to be shaking with rage that the EU have regulations OR that the regulations include disclosure carveouts?

postepowanieadm

EU has a really big problem with lobbing/corruption. Qatargate, russian connections, von der Leyen–Pfizer affair.

jeffbee

Can anyone name any other industry that is as open and transparent about power and water usage as the IT industry? How much energy does your local oil refinery, metal smelter, borax plant use? Large data center operators are already far more transparent with their annual reports than any other industry.

rceDia

Data centers are uber resource hogs: land, water, power. They compete for the same resources as other industries but also against the local citizenry. Who benefits from mass consumption of the resources and at what cost. Age old debate.

p4bl0

For what it's worth, an alternative data source [1] is being created by the DCWatch project [2]. [1] https://datacenters.hubblo.org/ [2] https://dcwatch.hubblo.org/