European data centers are positioned as strategic assets for digital sovereignty, responding to hyperscaler concentration in US cloud platforms.
Like coal-fired power plants and wind turbines, data centers generate little enthusiasm for local placement—yet their services are universally desired. As global concerns about artificial intelligence intensify, parallel discussions focus on where the infrastructure to train and operate AI systems should be located.
This question has become urgent in Europe, where governments and companies increasingly prefer storing data domestically rather than in the United States, the global leader in computing capacity. Yet expanded digital sovereignty in Europe carries environmental costs.
According to Germany's Ministry for Economic Affairs, cooling data centers requires between 0.4 and 4.4 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed, with water either evaporating or returning to cooling tanks in a heated state.
The challenges are mounting. Europe just experienced its hottest summer on record, forcing authorities in some regions to restrict water use for residents, agriculture, and even nuclear power plants. Warmer summers ahead raise urgent questions about data center water consumption's future trajectory.
Electricity demands are equally concerning. Finland's national grid operator, Fingrid, recently forecast that electricity consumption could rise by nearly 40% if all projects with signed connection agreements proceed fully.
The European Commission responded this week with a new transparency scheme requiring data centers exceeding 500 kW capacity to receive an efficiency grade accounting for energy and water use, including waste-heat recovery contributions to the grid. "Tripling our data center capacity cannot mean tripling the pressure on our grids, our water and our energy bills," said Teresa Ribiera, the Commission's Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
Historically, Europe's most powerful data centers have concentrated near Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (the FLAP-D cluster), drawn by high connectivity, proximity to users and businesses, and established ecosystems of specialized engineers and secure supply chains. This pattern is shifting. According to investment group CBRE, power and grid infrastructure constraints in these markets are now driving development to Groningen in the Netherlands, Barcelona in Spain, Brussels in Belgium, and increasingly to rural locations.
This expansion has triggered growing protest—both online and offline. Earlier this month, hundreds gathered at Google's offices in Linz, Austria, to oppose the company's advanced plans for a data center in the nearby town of Kronstorf. In Ireland, bestselling author Sally Rooney successfully reversed planning permission for a proposed data center in Killala village, citing climate policy violations. In central France, elected officials in Etrechet resigned over Google's plans for a massive facility requiring 880 megawatts to 1.1 gigawatts of electricity at full capacity—equivalent to a nuclear power plant's entire output. Mayor Florence Laurent told *Le Monde* she resigned from a "sense of powerlessness, since the village has no decision-making power" in the matter.
Data center operators counter that facilities can be engineered for efficiency. A Marseille data center currently under construction will employ a cooling system using 30% less power with zero water consumption. Scandinavian operators have adopted waste-heat recovery, routing server heat through district heating networks via heat exchangers and pumps. A spring survey by German energy company E.ON found that nearly three-quarters of respondents would welcome data centers near residential areas if waste heat supplied local heating networks.
Operators also contend that data centers can stabilize local power grids by connecting backup batteries to provide grid services during outages or peak demand periods.
For advocates, data centers serve Europe's dual interests: strengthening digital sovereignty while enhancing energy independence.
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*Monir Ghaedi contributed to this article, which was translated from German.*