Edinburgh could soon approve a temporary moratorium on data center developments.

Yesterday, the City of Edinburgh Council in Scotland approved a motion that would require city officers to prepare a report on whether the council could implement a data center moratorium until “definition or guidance” on what constituted a “green data center” was provided.

The report will be due by the meeting of the Planning Committee in June.

Importantly, the motion does not impose a moratorium, instead calling for a report on whether a moratorium “would be possible”.

Currently, Scotland’s national planning framework – a document setting out the country’s general planning strategy and goals – designates “green data centers” as a ‘national project’, which are developments given priority because of their importance to the planning framework’s sustainability goals.

But the planning framework does not mention what qualifies as a “green data center.”

Earlier last year, the government elaborated on the definition in response to a question in the Scottish Parliament.

“To be considered a green data center, planning authorities may wish to consider criteria such as the extent to which the data center is powered from renewable energy sources; makes use of energy efficient technologies; seeks to minimise water consumption; and supports the re-use of excess heat,” it said.

But it added that it would be “for the planning authority to interpret and apply NPF4 according to the circumstances of each individual case.”

Scottish Green Party member Alys Mumford, who put forward the motion, argued that establishing a clearer definition would make it easier for local planning authorities to determine whether to approve a data center proposal.

“As it is only green data centers which count as national infrastructure, this definition of what green means is really key. Yet councils have been left in a situation where we’re supposed to determine whether something is green based on the vaguest suggestions of the Scottish government,” said Mumford on Thursday.

“This particular motion is not saying we should never have another data center in Edinburgh. It’s saying that if the Scottish government feels that only green data centers are of national importance, we need to know what they mean by green.”

The motion would also request officers “engage with their counterparts within the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Region on how a moratorium may impact them and if there is potential for a cross-region moratorium.”

Scotland has seen an influx of large-scale data center projects since the AI boom.

These include a 500MW data center in North Lanarkshire that will be built by DataVita for use by CoreWeave, a 300MW campus outside Falkirk, and a trio of hyperscale facilities dubbed ‘The Stoics’ that could eventually scale to 1.5GW.

Anti-data center advocates have been calling for a moratorium on new data centers in Scotland for some time, claiming planned developments could harm the environment and use between 4.7GW to 5.2GW of power.