Europe must choose between AI and climate goals, data center lobby says

BRUSSELS —Europe must prioritize artificial intelligence over its immediate climate ambitions or risk surrendering its tech sovereignty to China. That’s the view of the president of the European Data Centre Association, which lobbies the EU on behalf of data center companies. Lex Coors said that Europe’s energy system is not ready to power advanced AI data centers, and Europe may need to fall back on new carbon-emitting gas power plants to meet its tech sovereignty goals. “The grid is not ready, [small modular nuclear reactors] won’t be on time. So now what?” he said. The European Commission wants to triple the bloc’s data center capacity by 2032 as part of its AI Continent Action Plan. But Coors said the rollout of renewables, grid expansion plans and next-generation nuclear projects are not moving fast enough to support that growth. That leaves Europe facing the sensitive question of whether it should temporarily rely on gas-fired power to support AI growth while waiting for grids, nuclear reactors and renewable energy storage to catch up. “My suggestion is, let’s at least open the conversation,” said Coors, whose organization represents Big Tech groups like Microsoft, Google and Amazon, along with local data center companies. AI vs. climate goals The debate strikes at the heart of a broader political dilemma in Brussels. Europe hosts approximately 3,000 data centers, making it the world’s second-largest regional hub after North America. Most are concentrated in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Ireland and the U.K., while the Nordics are emerging as a growing destination because of their cooler climate and abundant clean power. Yet, Europe still lags far behind the U.S. and China in overall computing capacity and the large-scale infrastructure needed to train advanced AI models. Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen argued in a recent interview with POLITICO that data centers are welcome in Europe only if they contribute to the energy transition, including by supporting the deployment of renewable energy and recycling waste heat. The Commission is also developing a sustainability label for data centers based on criteria such as energy efficiency, water use and heat recovery. Earlier this month, the Commission unveiled a Strategic Roadmap on digitalization and AI in the energy sector and secured a declaration of intent between utilities, grid operators and data center companies aimed at accelerating the deployment of AI infrastructure. Pipes that form part of the cooling system at a data center in Noyal-sur-Vilaine, France are pictured on Oct. 31, 2025. | Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images Coors welcomed the initiative as “an extremely valuable start,” but said policymakers are still operating under the assumption that key infrastructure projects will arrive on schedule despite doubts within the industry. “Any good idea is now blocked by the certainty, on paper, that everything will be on time,” he said. He argued that greater transparency from grid operators and policymakers about expected delays would allow the sector to plan alternative solutions. “If the Commission was open that it was behind, then it would open up the conversation.” For climate groups, Europe’s vulnerability to energy crises is the result of its continued dependence on imported fossil fuels. Building more gas capacity, they argue, risks locking in the problem Brussels is trying to solve. “The idea that the EU’s too-slow progress on climate should be further sacrificed by burning more gas for the sake of tech bro profits is preposterous,” said a spokesperson for Greenpeace EU. Maya Perera, energy expert at the European Environmental Bureau, urged the Commission to “hold the line,” arguing data centers “must meet the highest efficiency and environmental standards and actively support the energy transition, not undermine it.” The gas question Coors stressed that the data center industry remains committed to operating on clean energy and continues to support solar, wind and nuclear power. But he questioned whether batteries and renewable energy alone can bridge what he sees as an emerging supply gap. Because wind and solar are intermittent (they don’t work when there’s no wind or sunlight), they must be backed up by energy storage technology, such as batteries. “Batteries will not ride us through till 2034,” he said, arguing that policymakers underestimate the costs and scale of storage needed to support rapid AI expansion. If grid upgrades and advanced nuclear projects are delayed, gas could emerge as the only practical bridging fuel, he argued. That would mirror what’s already happening in the U.S., where a data center boom is prompting surging demand for new gas power plants. Last year, global orders for new gas plants reached a 25-year high largely thanks to the U.S. AI boom, according to the International Energy Agency. For Coors, the challenge extends beyond energy policy. He argued policymakers are trying to maximize four competing objectives simultaneously: “Competitiveness, sovereignty, sustainability and speed." But he said Europe must make a “trade off” between sustainability and the other three objectives. “If AI falls behind, it means that we will have to buy it forever rather than build it now.” The risk, he argued, is that by demanding that sustainable energy sources power data centers, Europe will lose time while rivals move ahead. “There’s only one winner at that moment: China,” he said.