Several of the largest data center operators have been accused of using a secrecy provision in EU law to block public access to crucial information about the environmental impact of their data centers.

According to reporting from Investigate Europe, Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobbying group that includes the likes of Amazon, Google, and Meta, had managed to keep secret the individual carbon footprint of their facilities across Europe.

The operators secured an amendment to a European Commission legislation that sought to collect key metrics on data centers across the bloc, including energy efficiency and water consumption. The amendment to the 2024 legislation permitted the operators to classify the metrics as confidential and commercially sensitive, essentially blocking public access to the information.

According to Investigate Europe, which spoke to 10 leading legal scholars, the confidentiality clause could violate EU transparency rules, in particular the bloc’s obligations under the Aarhus Convention, which grants the public rights to information on issues of environmental concern.

“In two decades, I cannot recall a comparable case,” Professor Jerzy Jendrośka, who spent 19 years on the body overseeing the Aarhus Convention, told Investigate Europe. “This clearly seems not to be in line with the convention.”

The final text of the legislation requires “the Commission and Member States concerned [to] keep confidential all information and key performance indicators for individual data centers. Such information shall be considered confidential information affecting the commercial interests of operators and owners of data centers.”

This means that only broad national-level data is made public. Information pertaining to the exact impact of individual data centers, however, is not accessible, even by freedom of information requests.

According to Investigate Europe, when approached for comment, the EC said that confidentiality had always been part of its proposal and declined to give an on-the-record response. “During the consultation, we received many comments on the topic,” an EU official said on condition of anonymity. “We analyzed the feedback and adopted a text reflecting it, as per usual practice.”

In response to the accusations, a spokesperson for Microsoft said to Investigate Europe that: “We support greater transparency around data centers, as sustainability disclosure can help drive better outcomes and build public trust. Microsoft has ambitious 2030 commitments on carbon, water, waste, and biodiversity, and tracks performance against high standards. We are taking further steps to increase openness, while protecting confidential business information.”

Investigate Europe said that according to sources close to the matter, the EC’s internal position was that if every data center’s information was made public, it could see the operators stopping reporting altogether. However, the EU has so far only collected around 36 percent of the data of eligible data centers, representing approximately 770 facilities.

The EU’s apparent investor-friendly stance has caused consternation amongst local activists. Ioannis Agapakis, a lawyer from the non-profit group Client Earth, told Investigate Europe that contracting out community consultation could mean people miss their chance to identify serious issues. “In the worst case, it could legitimize projects that might have procedural or substantive illegalities,” he said.

Data centers are projected to grow exponentially across the European market, forecast to rise from approximately 9.2GW at present to more than 17GW in 2030, much of which is driven by AI. As a result, emissions emanating from the sector are also expected to skyrocket, especially with the data center size also increasing significantly. As a result, the lack of reporting regarding the impact of individual data centers could seriously curtail the ability of independent bodies to scrutinize their impact, potentially impacting the EU’s capacity to meet carbon reduction targets.