Large-scale data centres will require environmental assessment, Scottish Government confirms

Environmental impact assessments must be carried out as part of plans for large-scale data centres, the Scottish Government has announced.

Public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad confirmed more stringent environmental requirements ahead of a debate at Holyrood calling for a moratorium on all such developments.

The change will affect plans for all new data centres with a power capacity exceeding 50 megawatts.

It follows an announcement last month that planning authorities must notify Scottish Ministers of all new data centre applications within seven days of validation.

Goodlad described data centres as a “rapidly evolving sector” and stated that evidence regarding their environmental impact continues to develop.

Edinburgh & East

Special meeting to hear from both sides of AI data centre plans after 7,000 objections

More than 7,000 people have now formally objected to an application to build a hyperscale AI data centre in Larbert

She said the Scottish Government must “balance the economic and employment interests” with national energy, climate, and community wealth-building ambitions, and the potential impact on local communities.

Goodlad added: “Ensuring that an Environmental Impact Assessment is always part of the application process will create a level playing field for developers and will ensure potentially significant environmental effects are considered from the outset.”

Campaigners have raised concerns about up to 21 proposed data centres across Scotland, with charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) suggesting the number of jobs such centres would create has been exaggerated.

A report by the charity also said diesel generators needed to run a data centre in Edinburgh could be as bad for the environment as more than 100,000 idling cars.

Green Party motion, to be debated at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, calls for a moratorium on new hyperscale data centres until a national strategy and updated planning guidance are put in place.

MSP Patrick Harvie said the requirement for environmental assessments is the “bare minimum” of what is needed.

He added: “Nothing that the government has announced this morning changes the urgent need for a moratorium until we have a national strategy and guidance in place for the councils who are being left to make these decisions in the dark.

“These centres would have huge implications for our environment and our communities, which is why there are local groups all across the country opposing them.

“Every SNP MSP should be asking themselves how on earth they can justify voting against the moratorium than their own party’s national council and so many of their members have called for.”

Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS), the countryside charity which has been at the forefront of the campaign against hyperscale data centres, described the update as “extremely good news”.

Dr Kat Jones, director of APRS, said: “This is an important, but limited, first step, and the other measures that need to be covered are set out well in the Labour amendment and the Green motion that will be debated this afternoon. A pause on planning decisions is absolutely essential.

“Just the first four applications under consideration at the moment would use as much energy as is generated by Torness nuclear power station, which is due to close in 2030.

“A modest pause will give time for the Government to put in place the necessary planning guidance, assess how much data centre capacity Scotland actually needs and where any should go, and assess and manage the impacts on the grid and the climate.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland have said the latest plans are “not enough” as the assessments fail to make a project more environmentally friendly.

Kim Pratt, senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, added: “Data centres require huge amounts of energy, land and materials to build and run. Thousands of people across Scotland have called on the Scottish Government to put people and nature before the profits of big tech.

“Until the Scottish Government has a national strategy to deal with AI data centres, there must be a moratorium. A moratorium is needed now because there are planning decisions due in a matter of weeks – these communities do not have until the end of the year, which is when the Scottish Government have proposed they will act by, to provide the protection they need.”