{ "id": "ai-data-centre-backlash", "title": "Backlash against AI data centres", "category": "policy", "countries": [ { "iso3": "USA", "name": "United States" }, { "iso3": "IRL", "name": "Ireland" }, { "iso3": "NLD", "name": "Netherlands" } ], "status": "Local opposition to large AI data centres is shaping policy on both sides of the Atlantic. US voters sided against them in 40 of 41 local ballot measures on Nov 3, and local pauses keep spreading, including a new 10-year moratorium in Ottawa, Kansas.", "summary": [ "Companies are racing to build data centres for artificial intelligence, and opposition is growing over power bills, water, land, noise and secretive deals. The International Energy Agency estimates data centres used about 1.5% of the world's electricity in 2024, with the United States accounting for 45% of that. In the US, the issue became a campaign theme before the 2026 midterms: New York's governor imposed a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale sites, Texas's governor paused new permits pending an audit, and President Trump argued that communities rejecting data centres would end up poorer and help China (Fox News, Euronews). A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas working paper estimated data centres pushed up wholesale power prices by 6.9% (Al Jazeera). In Europe, a coalition of more than 100 groups wants new large projects paused until rules are clearer, while the EU's tech chief Henna Virkkunen has said people must be able to trust their energy bills will not soar (Euronews, Reuters). OpenAI has pledged to pay its own way on energy and grid costs at the sites it builds (Al Jazeera)." ], "why_it_matters": { "text": "Data centres used about 415 TWh of electricity in 2024, around 1.5% of global consumption, and their demand has been growing about 12% a year, according to the International Energy Agency.", "source_url": "https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/executive-summary" }, "changed_recently": [ { "text": "DatacenterDynamics reports that Ottawa, Kansas, approved a 10-year moratorium on data centres. The hyperscale project that had prompted protests there had already been cancelled. In Cleveland, a building owner is seeking to put a data centre in the Union Trust Building despite a local moratorium and a looming foreclosure sale (DatacenterDynamics). CoreWeave's chief executive told CNBC he had cancelled a planned share sale and said the company would be fine after the Democratic midterm sweep. These developments follow the Nov 3 results, in which voters opposed data centres in 40 of 41 local measures (CNBC, CBS News). They also follow the Nov 6-7 protests in 15 European countries (Euronews, Al Jazeera).", "sources": [] } ], "key_numbers": [ { "label": "European countries with coordinated anti-data-centre protests on Nov 6-7", "value": "15 (coalition of 100+ groups)", "who_says": "Stop Dirty Data Centres coalition, as reported by Euronews", "as_of": "2026-11-05", "source_url": "https://www.euronews.com/2026/11/05/protesters-across-europe-to-call-for-freeze-on-energy-hungry-data-centres" }, { "label": "US voters who called data centres a crucial or major factor in their vote", "value": "56%", "who_says": "CNBC Voter Poll", "as_of": "2026-11-03", "source_url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/data-center-ballot-measures-2026-midterm.html" }, { "label": "Announced Texas data-centre developments at risk under a moratorium backed by the governor-elect", "value": "13.3 GW", "who_says": "Jefferies (investment bank), as reported by Fox News", "as_of": "2026-11-06", "source_url": "https://www.foxnews.com/politics/one-industry-faces-multi-trillion-dollar-reckoning-after-historic-midterm-election-reshuffle" } ], "expert_views": [ { "name": "Heather West", "role": "Analyst, Eurasia Group", "view": "Says data centres were not the main reason most people voted but gave cost-of-living worries a visible local target; she expects slower permitting, local fights and pressure on firms to pay for power rather than a halt to the build-out.", "outlet": "Euronews", "url": "https://www.euronews.com/2026/11/04/us-midterm-elections-backlash-to-ai-data-centres-reaches-ballot-boxes", "date": "2026-11-04" } ], "confidence": { "level": "medium", "reason": "The ballot results, protests and arrests are well documented, though early tallies differed (38 to 40 of 41) while counts finished. How much data centres raise household power bills is disputed: a Dallas Fed paper links them to higher wholesale prices, while US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said they are not the cause. Protest sizes vary by source." }, "sources": [ { "outlet": "DatacenterDynamics", "outlet_country": "UK", "date": "2026-11-11", "url": "https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/10-year-data-center-moratorium-approved-in-ottawa-kansas/" }, { "outlet": "DatacenterDynamics", "outlet_country": "UK", "date": "2026-11-11", "url": "https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/data-center-proposed-within-clevelands-union-trust-building-ohio/" }, { "outlet": "CNBC", "outlet_country": "US", "date": "2026-11-11", "url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/11/coreweave-ceo-election-data-center-buildout.html" }, { "outlet": "CNBC", "outlet_country": "United States", "date": "2026-11-04", "url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/data-center-ballot-measures-2026-midterm.html" }, { "outlet": "CBS News", "outlet_country": "United States", "date": "2026-11-04", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/midterm-election-results-data-center-buildout-artificial-intelligence-texas/" }, { "outlet": "Euronews", "outlet_country": "France", "date": "2026-11-05", "url": "https://www.euronews.com/2026/11/05/protesters-across-europe-to-call-for-freeze-on-energy-hungry-data-centres" }, { "outlet": "Al Jazeera", "outlet_country": "Qatar", "date": "2026-11-06", "url": "https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/6/protesters-break-into-microsoft-data-centre-site-in-amsterdam" }, { "outlet": "Al Jazeera", "outlet_country": "Qatar", "date": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/11/7/how-the-us-midterm-elections-reflected-resistance-to-data-centres" }, { "outlet": "Anadolu Agency", "outlet_country": "Turkiye", "date": "2026-11-05", "url": "https://aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-voters-back-data-center-restrictions-amid-backlash-over-artificial-intelligence-expansion/4112421" }, { "outlet": "Fox News", "outlet_country": "United States", "date": "2026-11-06", "url": "https://www.foxnews.com/politics/one-industry-faces-multi-trillion-dollar-reckoning-after-historic-midterm-election-reshuffle" }, { "outlet": "Irish Examiner (Reuters)", "outlet_country": "Ireland", "date": "2026-11-06", "url": "https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-41934291.html" } ], "updated": "2026-11-11", "page": "https://verorbis.com/e/ai-data-centre-backlash/", "interactive": "https://verorbis.com/#e-ai-data-centre-backlash", "license": { "text": "Summaries and curation: CC BY 4.0. Cite \"Verorbis\" and link to https://verorbis.com/e/ai-data-centre-backlash/.", "third_party": "Numbers from third parties keep their own licenses and credit lines.", "credits": [ "UCDP Candidate Events Dataset (CC BY 4.0), Uppsala Conflict Data Program", "UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database (CC BY 4.0)", "World Bank World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0)", "V-Dem via Our World in Data (CC BY-SA 4.0)", "Harvard Growth Lab, Atlas of Economic Complexity (CC0)", "GDELT Project", "U.S. Energy Information Administration and Federal Reserve, via FRED", "European Central Bank reference rates; US Treasury daily par yield curve; Federal Reserve Bank of New York (EFFR)" ] } }