The European Commission presented a new rating scheme for data centres across the European Union to create a more transparent system for assessing and monitoring energy use in new facilities being built across the bloc.
The EU is pushing to triple the number of data centres on the continent over the next five to seven years to make the bloc more technologically independent and increase computing capacity. Data centres are crucial to the digital sovereignty the European Commission seeks. However, they also require large amounts of energy to operate, particularly water.
In 2024, data centres in the EU consumed around 68 TWh of electricity, and the EU expects consumption to reach 114 TWh by 2030, totalling more than 3% of overall electricity demand.
Speaking about data centres during the scheme’s presentation, Dan Jorgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing, said that “understanding their energy and resource consumption is the essential first step towards integrating them sustainably into our energy system. Digital sovereignty must go hand in hand with energy responsibility.”
To avoid putting extra strain on electricity grids and to monitor energy consumption, the Commission created a new scheme that will make it easier to track data centres’ actual resource use.
As the Executive Vice-President for Transition Teresa Ribera said, “tripling our data centre capacity cannot mean tripling the pressure on our grids, our water and our energy bills. That starts with transparency, rating large data centres depending on their impact on our energy system.”
The new scheme will take effect after approval by the European Parliament and Council in 2027, with a first review and potential tweaks by the end of 2028. The rating scheme will cover every data centre that has a capacity above 500 kW.
