More than three-quarters (78%) of UK consumers are of the view that new datacentres should only be built if the developers commit to powering them with renewable energy sources, according to a poll commissioned by German non-profit Beyond Fossil Fuels.
The survey, which featured responses from more than 1,000 UK citizens, was carried out by market research company Savanta, with support from environmental charity Global Action Plan.
Specifically, its findings revealed that respondents are opposed to more datacentres being built in the UK because of concerns about the impact this will have on fossil fuel usage and domestic water supplies. With this in mind, 77% of respondents said they would only support the building of further datacentres if they are backed by the dual creation of additional renewable energy sources that can power them.
Furthermore, 70% of respondents said that if a datacentre was built in their local area, they would have concerns about what impact it would have on their household water supply.
Oliver Hayes, head of policy and campaigns at Global Action Plan UK, said the findings suggest the citizens are not prepared to overlook the environmental consequences of the UK government’s push to build more server farms. This is even though the polling data also shows that UK citizens have the lowest amount of awareness and knowledge of what datacentres are compared to other countries that took part in the survey, including Ireland, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
As previously reported by Computer Weekly, since coming to power in July 2024, the UK government has wasted no time on championing policies designed to fast-track the growth of the UK’s datacentre industry, as part of a broader push to position the nation as an artificial intelligence (AI) superpower.
“It’s no coincidence that Big Tech’s imposition of datacentres has been most aggressive where public awareness is lowest. But when confronted with the stark reality, UK citizens clearly grasp what their government won’t – datacentres deliver private gain for public pain,” said Hayes.
“The UK is a nation of climate advocates who know greenwash when they see it. Ministers who think they can quietly heed Big Tech’s demands for priority access to energy and water in service of chatbots and AI slop are in for a shock.”
Hayes continued: “This polling couldn’t be clearer: the public expect Big Tech to pay for new renewables and grid upgrades, and for their activities to be in service of, not jeopardising, critical industries like housing and healthcare.”
The research also revealed a strong desire among UK citizens for more transparency about the environmental impact datacentres have, with 82% of the view that the government should put in place specific criteria to determine how energy use is prioritised and distributed between industry, sectors and services.
“When there are shortages, UK people think that public healthcare services, agriculture and food, housing and residential services and national defence should all be prioritised over datacentres for energy supply,” the research showed.
Jill McArdle, international corporate campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels, said the research should prove to be a “wake-up call” for European policymakers who are pursuing a political agenda of rapid datacentre expansion at all costs.
“Rather than supporting this agenda, people are worried about datacentres’ unregulated growth stalling Europe’s energy transition, draining water resources and sending energy costs skyrocketing,” McArdle said. “Their message to European leaders is clear: new datacentres must not run on fossil fuels. People want to see renewables powering datacentres, or they do not want datacentres built.
“But that’s not all, they do not want datacentres jumping the queue for access to energy, ahead of households, public services and the electrification of European industries. It is time for Europe to stop pandering to Big Tech and start regulating datacentres.”
