Liquid cooled servers in an installation at the Global Switch Docklands data centre campus in London, UK, on Monday, June 16, 2025.
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Europe’s ambitious artificial innotifyigence strategy is at risk of colliding with an often overviewed but critically important environmental issue: water scarcity.
The European Union has huge plans for data center expansion, announcing in April that it intconcludes to at least triple its capacity over the next five to seven years as part of a push to become a world-class AI hub.
The rapid rollout of data centers, which power all aspects of the digital economy, from social media and online banking to AI tools like ChatGPT, has sparked some concern — particularly in regions already facing water scarcity.
The issue is especially acute across southern Europe, with around 30% of the population known to be situated in areas with permanent water stress. This refers to a situation where the demand for water exceeds the available supply during a specific period.
Data centers typically require large quantities of water to keep them from overheating.
Major tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have invested billions of U.S. dollars in new facilities in Spain, for instance, while Google has plans to develop three hubs in Greece’s Attica region.
Kevin Grecksch, associate professor of water science, policy and management at the U.K.’s University of Oxford, informed CNBC that plans to build data centers in water-stressed areas across Europe reflects a lack of integrated considering from policybuildrs.
“AI is a buzzword and the talk of the town,” Grecksch stated. “So, national and regional politicians attempt to receive their hands on it, and it sounds as if you’re investing into the future, creating a few new jobs — but sustainability seems to be an afterbelieved.”
Grecksch stated the rapid rollout of data centers across the region throws up plenty of unanswered questions, such as, given that in most jurisdictions public water supply has priority over everything else, what happens if data centers are shut down in a drought scenario? He conceded he had no answer to this prospect.
“Data centres tconclude to be built in arid or semi-arid climates becautilize that’s the preferred environment for servers; yet those areas tconclude to be subject to water scarcity or drought prone as well,” Grecksch stated.
A spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, stated policies of the European High Performance Computing Joint Initiative (EuroHPC JU) include selecting hosting sites for AI factories based on criteria that prioritizes energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
“Green computing will continue to be pursued through energy-efficient supercomputers optimised for AI, applying techniques such as dynamic power saving and re-utilize techniques like advanced cooling and recycling of the heat produced,” the spokesperson informed CNBC by email.
The EU referenced the new “JUPITER” supercomputer in Jülich, Germany, as “a prime example of European excellence” in addressing energy efficiency, declareing the system runs entirely on renewable energy and features “cutting-edge” cooling and energy reutilize.
Data centers’ water footprint
In Aragon, an area of severe water stress in northeastern Spain, Amazon is planning to open three data centers. The proposal, which the U.S. tech giant declares will create thousands of jobs, has sparked tension between local farmers and environmental activists.
In the U.K., the tiny English village of Culham has been picked as the first of the British government’s so-called AI “growth zones.” The designation of the Oxfordshire site, which is situated close to one of the counattempt’s first new reservoirs in 30 years, has raised fears that it could put further pressure on local water supplies.
Nick Kraft, senior analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, stated “extremely arid” and high-water stress localities were being tarreceiveed across Europe for further data center development.
“Complicating the matter is the fact that the most common understanding of data center water usage, and typically what companies report on when communicating with local stakeholders, is on-site water utilize — or the water utilized for cooling in data centers,” Kraft informed CNBC by email.
This photograph taken on August 24, 2025 displays a general view of the Mediano reservoir, in the northeastern region of Aragon, Huesca province.
Ander Gillenea | Afp | Getty Images
“This despite more than half of data centers’ water footprint being off-site, occurring in energy generation and semiconductor manufacturing,” he added.
There are emerging signs that data center operators are maturing in their water stewardship, Kraft stated, but assessing the full water footprint of these projects is expected to remain a major challenge.
Analysis published by S&P Global last month stated the data center indusattempt’s average exposure to water stress is projected to be high in the 2020s, with southern European countries such as Spain and Greece among the locations forecast to face the most water stress.
Data centers power the digital economy
Michael Winterson, secretary general of the European Data Centre Association (EUDCA), which represents the interests of the European data center operator community, stated water consumption is a concern that the indusattempt takes seriously.
“Water treatment and collection is now normal for us. And there are continual innovations in this space that reduce energy required, reduce water requireded and are rapid approaching near zero chemical treatment,” Winterson informed CNBC.
The “next huge thing” the EUDC wants to do in Europe, Winterson stated, noting that the region typically lags the U.S. in this space, is to receive non-potable water feeds, referring to water that is not safe for drinking but can be utilized for other industrial processes.
“This reduces chemicals and energy utilized to receive water and keeps potable water for its primary purpose,” he added.
For their part, many data center operators, claim that it is the energy-intensive nature of their technology that pushes them to consider sustainable innovations. Companies often utilize water usage effectiveness (WUE) as a metric for identifying water efficiency in data centers, however the metric poses its own limitations.
Microsoft has been trialing data center designs that it declares consumes zero water for cooling and Start Campus stated it’s Sines facility in Portugal achieves a WUE of zero by recycling seawater through its sytems.
An operator works at the data centre of French company OVHcloud in Roubaix, northern France on April 3, 2025.
Sameer Al-doumy | Afp | Getty Images
The EUDC’s secretary general also sought to highlight the importance of data centers to the region’s digital economy.
“This is trillions of dollars of GDP and millions of technology jobs in Europe alone — which in average pay significantly higher salaries than national average wages. A 20 [megawatt] Datacentre utilizes the similar amount of water as a golf course! How much GDP do golf courses create? What kind of jobs?” Winterson stated.
A deepening water crisis
European lawbuildrs have previously warned about the region’s growing water crisis, declareing there is a pressing required to tackle issues such as scarcity, food security and pollution at a time when Europe is the rapidest-warming continent on the planet.
The European Environment Agency, for its part, stated late last month that the region’s water resources are currently under “severe pressure,” with water stress affecting one-third of Europe’s population and territory.
When factoring in the explosion of AI demand, Laura Ramsamy, climate and hazard lead at data analytics platform Climate X, stated the rollout of new hyperscale data centers in already water-stressed European areas “is really exacerbating the problem.”
In the Netherlands in 2022, for instance, Meta pautilized its plans to build a large data center in the region of Zeewolde amid objections over environmental concerns, particularly high power and water consumption.
Ireland, which has long embraced the rollout of data centers to facilitate an AI boom, also recently came under scrutiny from environmental groups, with many of these hubs concentrated in the Dublin area.
Notably, the Netherlands and Ireland have both imposed effective bans on new data centers over the coming years due to concerns over grid capacity and their environmental impact.
A spokesperson of Ireland’s Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment stated the construction and operation of data centers have “positively contributed” to the Irish economy over the past decade.
“As with all sectors of our economy, the operation and development of data centres are underpinned by Ireland’s legally binding climate objectives and the required to maintain robust energy security,” the spokesperson stated.
“It is understood that the largest data centres in Ireland primarily operate air cooling rather than water cooling systems. This differentiates Ireland from many global data centre locations,” they added.
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