Scottish Government Mandates Environmental Assessments for Large Data Centres

The Scottish Government has introduced mandatory environmental impact assessments for all new data centre projects exceeding 50MW. This policy shift follows a surge in planning applications for AI infrastructure, including a proposed site in Auchtertool, Fife, which is described as the second-largest in the world.

Public Finance Minister Hannah Mary Goodlad previously mandated these assessments for specific sites in Auchtertool and Wester Hermiston before the government expanded the requirement. Goodlad stated that the measure ensures a level playing field for developers and balances economic interests with climate and community wealth-building ambitions.

Despite these new rules, the government rejected a motion proposed by the Scottish Greens to implement a full moratorium on hyperscale AI data centres. Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie argued that a pause is necessary to prevent a "big tech free-for-all," claiming that the first 24 proposed projects could require 1.5 times Scotland's entire peak electricity consumption.

Community groups and the NGO Action to Protect Rural Scotland protested the decision at Holyrood. Director Kat Jones described the new assessments as good news but maintained that a temporary pause remains essential to develop a national strategy and assess the cumulative impact on the energy grid.