EU denies bowing to tech lobby on data centre green impact

Brussels: The European Commission denied Friday it had copy-pasted from proposals by tech industry lobbyists in adopting rules allowing data centres to keep their environmental impact secret.

A press investigation alleged Brussels had added a confidentiality clause to a review of energy efficiency rules after pressure from Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobby whose members include Amazon, Google and Meta.

“We reject the accusation of ad verbatim copy-pasting of industry lobbying,” said commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.