Europe Data-Center Backlash Stalls $42B of Projects, STL Says

Public backlash has stalled or cancelled roughly $42 billion of European data-center investment, according to research from STL Partners cited by CNBC. The European Data Center Monitor counted more than 70 projects rejected or restricted between January and April, more than in all of 2025. The US figure is around $77 billion.

The fights have moved from town halls to courts, regulators and parliaments. Scotland has paused planning approvals for new hyperscale data centers after campaigners urged the government to avoid the "cautionary tale" of Ireland, where overwhelming power demand led to a moratorium. Denmark passed an emergency law that could push data-center applications to the back of the grid-connection queue. Spain this summer proposed rules requiring operators to source 80% of their electricity from renewables.

Asia is tracking the same arc. On September 4, Thai regulators suspended construction of 49 data-center projects and began developing new rules on resource use and safety. That is more facilities than the country currently has running. In Seoul, 22 of 25 district mayors called in August for a separate construction review for data centers in residential areas; 17 of 33 approved South Korean projects have already been delayed by local protests.

The objections are mundane and specific: water, power usage, electricity cost, land. It is the pattern underneath a run of alerts in our climate coverage, from today's £16.5bn 1GW UK filing at the Chapelcross site to California's seven-bill data-center package signed in September.