Microsoft helped write data centre emissions secrecy into EU law, investigation finds

Microsoft and lobby group DigitalEurope lobbied to keep data centre emissions data secret from the public – and succeeded, according to an investigation by Investigate Europe published with the Guardian, Le Monde, El País and several other media outlets.

Microsoft and DigitalEurope, whose members include Amazon, Google, and Meta, managed to cover up emissions from its data centres by proposing a confidentiality clause during the drafting of the EU's 2024 Energy Efficiency Directive.

The Commission adopted the clause almost word for word, according to the investigation, effectively shielding the industry's emissions from public scrutiny.

Emissions data hidden from view

Under EU law, data centres are required to report their energy use, water consumption, and carbon emissions to regulators. But the confidentiality clause now means none of that information can now be accessed by affected communities, academics, or journalists.

Ten legal scholars told Investigate Europe the clause may violate the Aarhus Convention, an international treaty guaranteeing public access to environmental information.

Knock-on effects

For European climate tech investors and founders, the opacity creates a real due diligence problem.

With €176bn expected to flow into European data centre infrastructure over the next five years, the emissions footprint of individual facilities is critical information for impact investors assessing portfolio companies, and for LPs applying ESG screens.

Researchers say the gap is already felt.

Alex de Vries-Gao, who studies AI's environmental impact at VU Amsterdam, told Investigate Europe that public information is "extremely limited" and that quantifying emissions typically requires working around the absence of data.