On October 23, 2026 we will take action together to oppose the unchecked expansion of hyperscale AI data centres across Europe, the UK and beyond—an expansion that imperils people and planet.
Impacts
The explosion of AI data centres across our towns, cities and countryside is taking a toll on our lives that we can no longer afford. We are acting now to Stop Dirty Data Centres and prevent the irreparable harms data centres pose to the wellbeing of people and planet:
- Local communities Rising up against the loss of green space, drinking water, clean air and nature as previously protected sites are earmarked for AI data centre developments. Where data centres are built, neighbors suffer from painful noise pollution, increased respiratory disease, intensifying heat islands and more.
- Jobs and economy Data centres employ very few people and contribute little to the local economy, despite often receiving public subsidies. Developers have a poor track record of promising jobs but delivering very few—often flying in specialized teams to build and operate the site while leaving only temporary construction jobs or low-paid cleaning and security ones. The AI services they house are used to deskill and automate away jobs that ultimately dismantle workers’ power.
- Housing New homes are delayed or left empty because data centres captured the available energy grid connections. Meanwhile, countless communities face housing shortages, rising rents and overcrowding.
- Bills As energy bills climb for ordinary citizens, fuelled by data centre expansion, governments offer data centre developers discounted energy rates.
- Climate Europe is the fastest warming continent and just experienced an historic heatweave. However, the fossil fuel industry sees AI data centres as a lifeline. AI data centres use astonishing amounts of power. Increasingly this demand is met by fossil fuels, undermining our ability to reduce pollution, meet our climate goals and locking us into dependency on dirty energy. The nuclear industry is hoping small modular reactors will be used to power data centres in the future—the timeframes for which are unrealistic and incompatible with climate targets.
- Water Data centres require a lot of fresh water for cooling. Demand is greatest when the weather is hottest—depriving people and nature of water when they need it most. The UN special rapporteur on water has called for a moratorium on data centre expansion because of the huge demand for water that data centres create to cool their servers. Even data centers that use so-called “dry cooling” still use significant amounts of water.
- Big tech power Big tech companies lobby governments to fast-track construction and operate in secrecy, undermining protections to people and ecosystems and preventing our democracies from making infromed decisions about these tradeoffs.
- Mental health Across Europe, there is a crisis of mental health especially among young people suffering from social isolation, depression, and anxiety. The digital services and platforms designed to addict and manipulate us require data centres.
- Data rights Data rights groups are signalling the alarm about what the AI-driven expansion of digital surveillance into every corner of our lives, including public services, will mean for privacy, data rights and civil liberties.
- Securitization and militarization Data centres are increasingly being used in warfare and surveillance. They provide compute and storage for battlefields abroad and house tools used against civilian populations. Lucrative contracts with the defense sector fill the pockets of foreign tech companies, and under the protection of national security rhetoric, they operate as black boxes with less scrutiny and democratic oversight.
- Global impact Communities around the world are sounding the alarm at the destruction of nature and harms to health and climate caused by accelerated demand for the computer chips and hardware inside data centres—chips being replaced every few years.
On October 23, 2026, a coalition of groups and local campaigns, concerned with a range of issues from hyperscale data centre expansion, are calling days of action to Stop Dirty Data Centres to [OUR DEMAND – stop now until answers to our questions].
Events
There will be a range of actions local groups and individuals can take wherever they are. To stay in touch and register your organisation’s interest, please contact [NAME, EMAIL].
Supporters
Organised by
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Supported by
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Resources
- Arrojo, P. (2025). El nexo entre el agua y la energía—Informe del Relator Especial sobre los derechos humanos al agua potable y al saneamiento (A/HRC/60/30). Asamblea General de la Onu / Consejo de Derechos Humanos.
- Gómez Delgado, A. (2026). El precio de la nubes: La expansión de los Centros de Datos en Aragón. Tu Nube Seca Mi Río.
- Rikap. (2026). Teoría de la dependencia digital. Caja Negra.