EDINBURGH, Scotland - Thousands of people took to the streets of Edinburgh on Saturday to protest against the construction of large-scale AI data centres, highlighting growing concerns over their environmental impact.
Demonstrators, some in costume and carrying placards with slogans such as "AI data centres threaten humanity" and "AI data centres: costing the Earth," assembled at the top of the Royal Mile before marching towards the Scottish Parliament.
The event is part of a wave of protests across Europe and comes as the Scottish government prepares to publish new planning guidance on data centres. The government said it is developing a strategy to maximise the "public benefit" of such facilities.
Community concerns
Some protesters voiced opposition to specific data centre plans in their communities, including Cockenzie in East Lothian and Larbert in Falkirk.
Kim Cairns, a campaigner for 'Say No To Chapelcross AI Data Centre', told BBC Scotland News that her community is worried about noise, road closures, and access problems during construction. She is also concerned about the noise the centre would generate once operational.
"It's not going to enrich anybody's lives. For Chapelcross it's the sheer size of it, the amount of electricity it's going to need," she said. "At the moment it's green fields with sheep and cows in it. It's going to be a monstrosity on the environment. The air pollution, the light pollution - it's just not needed."
The Chapelcross site, if approved, would have a capacity of 1,000MW, making it one of the largest data centres in the world. Currently, Scotland's biggest data centre is thought to be DataVita's site in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, with a capacity of 12MW.
Environmental and energy concerns
Friends of the Earth campaigner Kim Pratt believes the people of Scotland should have the final say on the building of data centres.
"The way that these data centres are being proposed is going to make a lot of profit for big tech companies but they're going to have huge impacts for people in Scotland," she said. "These developments are so massive they're going to have national-level impacts - they're energy hungry developments. There would be a massive increase in our energy bills but also in terms of climate impact as well. The Scottish government is only taking a few months to consider these impacts - and these developments are so new, we don't know what all the impacts will be."
The Scottish Greens and campaign groups have called for a moratorium on large data centres, arguing they could undermine climate targets and place additional pressure on renewable energy supplies.
Government response
Innovation Minister Alyn Smith recently described data centres as "the whisky bonds of the AI sector," a remark that drew criticism from protesters. He has also dismissed some of the discourse around the subject as "wild," saying: "You'd think there wasn't a planning system at all. Comparing a really bad data centre in the middle of the Utah desert doesn't track through to what we're going to have in Scotland."
A Scottish government spokesperson confirmed that new planning guidance would be published before the end of the year and that a strategic approach was being developed to maximise public benefit. The spokesperson added: "Planning authorities are also now required to notify ministers of new data centre applications, with a new planning direction also mandating an Environmental Impact Assessment to be submitted during planning for all new data centres with a power capacity exceeding 50 megawatts."
The protest underscores the growing tension between the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure and local environmental and community concerns.
