Scotland’s ‘green datacentres’ policy ignores emissions impact of AI, analysis shows
TL;DR
Definition of green facilities made in 2022, before release of ChatGPT, says Action to Protect Rural Scotland A Scottish government policy designed to encourage datacentres to build in Scotland could lead to a massive volume of carbon emissions being ignored, according to an analysis by a Scottish charity. “Green datacentres” are at the heart of Scotland’s ambitions to develop economically. Enshrined in national policy, they are part of a larger, UK-wide effort to attract big AI investment to Scotland.
Nauti's Take
There's a real upside in this critique: it forces Scotland to confront the greenwashing risk baked into its own datacentre policy — an opportunity to align AI-investment strategy with honest climate accounting. The catch: as long as 'green' is defined by 2022 rules from before ChatGPT, every new AI hyperscaler clears that bar by default.
Anyone building similar policy frames in Europe should fix the definition now, not after the carbon shows up.
Sources