New York · The Guardian Technology
Proposed London datacentre will have annual carbon footprint of 27,000 flights to New York
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A “hyperscale” datacentre in outer London would generate more than 1m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, equivalent to the carbon footprint of 27,000 flights from London to New York, planning documents show.
Key facts
- The 1.2m tonnes of CO₂e the EHDCC expects to emit would amount to 26,795 long-haul flights from London Heathrow to New York’s John F Kennedy international airport, according to the UN’s International
- By early 2025, the government estimated datacentres used 2.5% of the UK’s electricity, but predicted this would increase fourfold by 2030
- By 2038, the EHDCC operational emissions alone are projected to consume nearly 20 times the entire carbon budget of the borough of Havering and almost 1% of the UK’s entire carbon budget
- But in the planning application, Digital Reef says the £14.7bn project “does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050
Summary
The East Havering Data Centre Campus (EHDCC) in North Ockendon would be one of the largest datacentres in Europe if approved by Havering council, using 218 hectares of green belt to run servers and data storage systems for AI and cloud computing. But in the planning application, Digital Reef says the £14.7bn project “does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050”. Guardian analysis of planning documents for the dozens of proposed datacentres in the UK shows that the EHDCC has the highest projected carbon emissions disclosed by a developer. Donald Campbell, advocacy director at the tech justice nonprofit Foxglove, said the EHDCC’s projected emissions were “staggering”.