EUDCA's Coors: Europe Must Choose AI Ambitions or Climate Goals

Lex Coors, president of the European Data Centre Association, told Politico that Europe's energy grid is not prepared to power the AI data centers the bloc is racing to build, and the clean-power alternatives are not arriving fast enough to close that gap. "The grid is not ready, [small modular nuclear reactors] won't be on time. So now what?" he said, putting the dilemma squarely to EU policymakers.

Politico's reporting indicates Coors argued Europe must prioritize AI development over its immediate climate ambitions or risk surrendering tech sovereignty to China. The data centre lobby's position, as reported, is that gas-fired plants are currently the only reliable bridge while renewables, nuclear, and grid capacity develop. The EUDCA has separately noted that around €200 billion is being mobilized for EU AI development across 19 AI factories aimed at startups, industry, and research — a scale of buildout that makes the grid readiness question more than theoretical.

The statement carries extra weight because Coors also chairs the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, the industry's own voluntary clean-power commitment, and separately participates in the EU's SMR workgroup. A warning from someone in those roles is harder to read as reflexive anti-regulation lobbying; it signals the tension between AI ambitions and decarbonisation is being felt inside the sector, not just by outside critics.

The honest caveat is that this is an industry representative making the case, and what the reporting does not supply is an independent grid assessment, a specific power demand projection, or any official EU policy response. "SMRs won't be on time" may be accurate, but the timeline comparison is not spelled out in what was retrieved.

The more constructive read is that warnings like this create pressure for faster grid investment and permitting reform, and open a competitive opportunity for EU member states with stronger renewable infrastructure and shorter grid connection queues to attract data center investment ahead of their neighbors.