Swinney urged to meet campaigners demanding pause on hyperscale data centres

Campaigners calling for a moratorium on new hyperscale data centres are pressing for a meeting with the First Minister amid concerns over the “disastrous effects” of such developments on both communities and the environment.

With councils due to decide on two proposed data centres in Auchertool, Fife, and Larbert, near Falkirk – which opponents say would require almost a quarter of Scotland’s peak electricity demand between them – John Swinney has been told a moratorium is needed urgently.

Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) and the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) have raised concerns in a letter to Mr Swinney and are also pressing for a meeting with him.

It comes after the SNP leader said his Government would consider if it is “appropriate” for councils to decide on whether hyperscale data centres can go ahead, adding he recognises the level of “public concern” around such sites.

He told MSPs in June he would “explore” whether decisions on these should be taken locally “given the scale of the developments involved”.

In their letter Mr Swinney, APRS and the ERCS said: “To be very clear, we are not calling for decisions to be made at Government level, we are asking for a moratorium so that the impacts can be thoroughly and independently assessed, and so that a strategic approach can be taken, and that these can be incorporated into guidance issued to local authorities.

“Only in this way can we minimise the adverse effects of hyperscale data centres on the environment, the achievement of national climate targets and secure and affordable electricity supply for communities.”

The claim a “lack of clarity” around developments classed as being green data centres “appears to have created a planning loophole”.

APRS director Kat Jones said: “Since the first calls from ERCS and ourselves for a moratorium back in December, the impacts of hyperscale data centres on communities and the environment everywhere they are built are becoming clearer, and the lack of benefits they bring to local communities even starker.

“These humongous buildings, some of the largest on the planet, have huge environmental impacts, both locally and globally.”

She urged the Government: “Let us heed the warnings from communities and cities in the US who are putting in place moratoriums, and pause to think before we rush headlong into allowing them in Scotland.”

Dr Jones also wants ministers to clarify that the term “green data centre” cannot apply to hyperscale AI data centres – and that environmental impact assessments are required for all such developments before they can go ahead.

Benji Brown, policy and advocacy officer at ERCS, said: “What is in the best interests of tech giants is not in the best interests of Scotland.

“It is increasingly clear that the rush to develop hyperscale data centres has been ill thought through, without due consideration of disastrous effects these developments will have on local communities and the environment.

“This new wave of data centres would place huge demands on our energy system and blow a hole in our climate targets, especially if back-up diesel generators are used to help power new sites.

“Local authorities are already struggling to make sense of unclear guidance around the definition of a ‘green data centre’, and it beggars belief that these vast projects could proceed without a full environmental impact assessment.

“We need an immediate moratorium until there has been a clear evaluation of the effects that hyperscale data centres will have on Scotland’s energy security, energy prices and climate targets.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.