Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that inward investment agreements for new datacentres include binding requirements on energy efficiency, renewable power sourcing and heat‑recovery obligations; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential environmental risks arising from the absence of a single cross‑government standard for datacentre sustainability.

The government is committed to ensuring that new data centres and AI infrastructure are developed responsibly, with due consideration of environmental impacts.

UK data and AI infrastructure is subject to the UK’s environmental and planning frameworks, which require assessment of impacts such as energy use. Larger data centres, which will be able to apply through the recently introduced Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project route, will also be subject to these requirements.

DSIT works closely with DESNZ, DEFRA, and MHCLG to ensure that the UK’s data centre growth align with wider policy objectives, including on sustainability and Clean Power 2030 ambitions. The AI Energy Council, co-chaired by Secretaries of State for DSIT and DESNZ, brings together regulators, energy companies and tech firms to address the growing energy demands of AI in a sustainable and scalable way.