Google · The Guardian Technology
Datacentres are growing target of global climate-related legal cases, report spots
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The proliferation of datacentres and AI is increasingly at the forefront of environmental litigation around the world, from the US and UK to Chile to Ireland, a report has found.
Key facts
- In December, Ireland’s Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) said “large energy users” such as datacentres would be allowed to operate on fossil fuels for the next six years
- One of the first cases was filed in 2020 in Chile’s capital, Santiago, where Google was planning a huge datacentre in the Cerrillos area
- Another case in Mississippi argues that Elon Musk’s xAI is breaching the Clean Air Act by running portable methane gas generators without the required permits
- Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), Friends of the Earth Ireland and ClientEarth are seeking a judicial review of the decision because they argue it will lock Ireland into high-emitting
Summary
In an analysis of about 3,600 climate-related lawsuits filed since 2015, the latest annual review of climate litigation by the London School of Economics (LSE) found a growing number of cases challenging the energy sources, water consumption and air pollution of datacentres, all of which have related climate implications. One of the first cases was filed in 2020 in Chile’s capital, Santiago, where Google was planning a huge datacentre in the Cerrillos area. The lawsuit succeeded in halting the Cerrillos project, on the grounds that climate impacts had not been properly considered, but not the wider explosion of datacentres, which is draining Chile’s already drought-stricken wetlands. The LSE report identified Ireland as a hotspot for litigation against datacentres.