European Commission Defends Data Center Environmental Secrecy Rules

The European Commission is facing allegations that it allowed tech industry lobbyists to dictate transparency rules regarding the environmental impact of data centers. A joint press investigation by Investigate Europe, The Guardian, and Le Monde claims the Commission added a confidentiality clause to 2024 legislation almost word-for-word from proposals submitted by Microsoft and the lobby group DigitalEurope.

This provision classifies key performance indicators, including water consumption and energy efficiency, as commercially sensitive. While operators must submit these metrics, only aggregated national data is made public. Legal scholars and NGOs argue this blocks freedom of information requests and violates the Aarhus Convention on access to environmental information. Currently, only 36 percent of eligible data centers are reporting the required data.

Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen acknowledged that the body used parts of stakeholder proposals to refine the rules but denied that the Commission engaged in verbatim copy-pasting of lobbying efforts. She maintained that the core intention of the proposal was to protect business secrets. Simultaneously, the Commission is reviewing a draft bill to fast-track environmental impact assessments for major construction projects, a move supported by Microsoft and Amazon.