Europe aims to become a global hub for artificial intelligence, but that ambition faces a major environmental hurdle: water scarcity.
The European Commission has announced plans to triple the capacity of data centers over the next seven years.
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Experts have warned that this expansion could worsen the water crisis, particularly in southern Europe, where about 30% of the population lives in areas suffering from “chronic water stress,” according to a report published by CNBC and reviewed by Al Arabiya Business.
Digital Thirst
Data centers rely on enormous amounts of water to cool their servers and prevent overheating. This has raised environmental concerns over the investments of tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta — especially in countries like Spain and Greece, where drought is chronic.
Kevin Greckx, a professor of water policy at the University of Oxford, said that building these centers in semi-arid regions reflects a lack of integrated policy thinking. He added that local politicians are eager to attract such investments to create jobs, but sustainability remains a secondary priority.
Clash of Interests in Spain and the UK
In the Aragon region of northeastern Spain, Amazon’s plans to build three data centers are facing fierce opposition from farmers who fear the facilities will consume their water allocations.
In the UK, the decision to select the village of Culham as the site for the country’s first “AI Growth Zone” has sparked similar concerns, as it is located near the first new water reservoir built in Britain in three decades.
The EU’s Bet on Green Computing
The European Commission says its European High-Performance Computing Initiative (EuroHPC) prioritizes energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. It points to Germany’s JUPITER supercomputer as a model, since it runs entirely on renewable energy and reuses the heat it generates.
Experts note, however, that the issue extends beyond cooling water consumption — more than half of a data center’s total water footprint occurs off-site, during energy production and semiconductor manufacturing.
Tech companies are attempting to reduce water usage through recycling and the use of non-potable water sources. Microsoft says it is testing water-free data centers, while Portugal’s Start Campus facility relies on desalinated and recycled seawater for cooling systems.
A Battle Between Sustainability and Growth
These data centers form the backbone of Europe’s digital economy, generating trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. Yet scientists warn that the race toward AI advancement could further intensify Europe’s water crisis.
Both the Netherlands and Ireland have already imposed restrictions on the construction of new data centers due to environmental and energy concerns.
The European Environment Agency reports that one-third of the continent’s population already lives in areas under severe water stress — making the looming “digital thirst” a growing threat to the future of the green continent.
