Brussels, BELGIUM – Today, the European Commission adopted the bloc’s first-ever rating scheme for data centres. While intended to improve transparency and help compare sustainability performance, the final framework risks undermining technological innovation and Europe’s AI ambitions, the tech sector warns.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) cautions that the scheme applying the same criteria to data centres in Finland and southern Spain, for example, fails to reflect the different climates and operating conditions found across the EU.
Although CCIA Europe appreciates the accompanying document contextualising Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) against local weather conditions, it would not affect the performance rating assigned on a scale from A to G to each data centre. More geographically sensitive methodologies are needed to ensure fairer comparisons across the Single Market, providing clearer signals and greater certainty for investors.
A further concern is the new Commission-defined Low-Emission Energy Factor (LEEF), which sits outside established international standards and creates uncertainty for long-term investment. While it recognises renewables and nuclear, it excludes other carbon-free energy sources such as geothermal, clean hydrogen, and battery discharge.
The framework also overlooks key operational trade-offs. Indeed, it forces data centre operators into a zero-sum game in which improving their ‘water use’ rating could actually push them towards solutions that consume more energy and increase carbon emissions.
Modern data centres are highly complex facilities. Processing AI workloads depends on high-density hardware that generates significant heat, requiring advanced cooling infrastructure. Yet the Commission’s approach penalises innovative cooling solutions.
By restricting the use of technologies such as evaporative cooling and excluding a broader range of carbon-free energy sources, the framework makes it harder to meet EU decarbonisation goals and limits Europe’s ability to scale AI infrastructure.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Europe’s Policy Manager, Leonardo Veneziani:
“The EU’s new rating scheme for data centres was meant to help investors compare sustainability performance across Europe. But the methodology now put forward by the Commission fails to account for different climates, operational realities, and technology choices – resulting in distorted metrics that undermine the scheme’s credibility.”
“The rating scheme risks pushing data centre investment outside the EU, undermining both Europe’s competitiveness and the scheme’s original environmental goals.”
