Scotland's 'green datacentres' policy may be ignoring the significant carbon emissions associated with artificial intelligence, according to an analysis by the charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS). The Scottish government's National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) promotes 'green datacentres' as part of its economic development strategy, but lacks a clear definition of what constitutes a green datacentre. This ambiguity could allow AI developments to claim green status while their climate impact is overlooked.
Outdated Analysis
The underlying analysis for NPF4 was conducted in 2022, before the release of ChatGPT, and has not been updated. At that time, analysts assumed that any increase in emissions from datacentres would be offset by reduced travel emissions. However, this does not account for the rapid growth of AI and its massive energy consumption.
Massive Energy Demands
More than a dozen datacentres in Scotland are seeking planning permission, including an AI growth zone in Lanarkshire backed by £8.2bn in private investment. Collectively, they could use 6.2GW of power, one-and-a-half times Scotland's peak winter electricity use. Despite this, developers may receive favourable treatment by branding projects as 'green'.
In Edinburgh, a datacentre with 200 diesel backup generators—equivalent to 100,000 idling cars—was accepted as 'green' by a planning committee, even though no definition exists in NPF4.
Gas Connections Raise Questions
Energy company representatives confirmed that over 100 datacentre projects have requested gas connections, indicating plans to burn gas due to long waits for grid connections. Officials say this raises 'interesting questions' for UK climate goals.
Green MSP Ariane Burgess called for transparency on what constitutes a green datacentre and how energy demands will be met. Kat Jones, director of APRS, said it was 'shocking' that the carbon footprint of hyperscale datacentres was excluded from greenhouse gas analysis.
A Scottish government spokesperson stated that Scotland has strengths for green datacentres, including renewable energy, and aims to secure investment aligned with net-zero ambitions.
