Britain’s Labour government has rejected the Green Party’s call for a moratorium on large AI datacentre construction in England. Green Party leader Zack Polanski made the appeal on August 27, citing the massive water and energy consumption of these facilities at a time when three-quarters of the UK is facing drought conditions. According to figures cited by the Greens, a single large facility can consume up to 1.5 million litres of water per day for cooling alone. Labour responded that any such pause would be a disaster for the British economy and would scare off investment, pointing to the AI Growth Zones established since 2025 to fast-track datacentre projects. The debate reflects a global tension, with Ireland, the Netherlands, and parts of the United States also grappling with the resource demands of data centres.
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