TIME TO HALT AI DATA CENTRES?
The Scottish Greens have hailed Outlander star Sam Heughan’s support for a moratorium on hyperscale AI data centres ahead of a crunch vote in the Scottish Parliament today brought by the Green MSPs.
The Outlander star has urged politicians to “listen to what communities and environmental organisations are saying” and halt climate-wrecking data centre applications until a national strategy is in place.
The Scottish Greens have called for all applications for data centres above 50MW to be paused until a clear national strategy is in place, but the Scottish Government has fallen short of committing to a moratorium.
Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: “Sam Heughan is right that the Scottish Government should listen to communities and campaigners who are calling for a moratorium.
“We need an immediate pause on these applications until we can assess the impact on our energy systems and local environments. The current approach from the Scottish Government is unsustainable.
“MSPs can show support for local communities by backing our calls for a proper national strategy and demanding the halt that is needed.”
You can ask MSPs to vote for a moratorium with a quick e-action from Friends of the Earth Scotland.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is calling for a moratorium ‘because of our profound concerns about the environmental impacts of these mega data centres’.
The campaigners say data centre proposals that are already known about would require more electricity than Scotland’s total peak winter demand.
And the number of applications could triple under projections from the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
That would divert far too much renewable energy from heating our homes, charging our EVs and powering our public transport, and decarbonising our industry – all of which is needed to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and tackle the climate crisis.
