The European Commission has cleared a new classification system that will rate large data centres on energy and water use, modelled on appliance-style labels and now entering a two-month comment period before it can take effect.
The Commission approved a disclosure and labelling scheme for data centres to show energy and water consumption, increasing transparency for planners and the public.
The scheme targets larger facilities (thresholds discussed in proposals are 500 kW of IT capacity) and uses an A-to-G coloured scale similar to product energy labels.
The labelling aims to help manage rising demand: EU data centre electricity use was 68 TWh in 2024 and is on track to reach about 114 TWh by 2030 under current projections.
Commission has approved a scheme that will classify and label data centres according to their energy and water performance. The scheme is presented as an information tool for planners, local authorities and the public so they can better understand how individual facilities contribute to resource demand.
Officials described the system as comparable to the familiar energy labels used on household appliances. Data centres will receive a ranking on a coloured scale where A/Green represents the most efficient performance. The labelling will disclose both energy and water consumption metrics for each site covered by the regulation.
The proposal and related coverage focus on larger facilities. The Commission's proposal targets sites with IT power at or above 500 kilowatts. Those facilities already report key performance metrics to EU systems, and the new label would add a standardised scale to make comparisons easier.
Public information is part of that approach: labelling makes consumption visible when new projects are planned and when communities or regulators assess the local impact of a centre.
Published EU figures cited alongside the proposals show data-centre electricity consumption at 68 TWh in 2024, with a projection rising to about 114 TWh by 2030 if current trends continue. That would represent roughly 3% of the bloc's electricity demand under the cited projection.
Council can comment. If neither institution raises objections during that period, the regulation can move forward and be implemented.
How this may affect operators and planners
Operators of larger data centres will need to publish standardised energy and water metrics and accept a label that places them on the A-to-G scale. Site planners and local authorities will have a common benchmark to compare proposals and consider resource impacts during permitting and planning decisions.
Potential implications for policy and local debates
The labelling scheme sits alongside other EU work on minimum efficiency standards and disclosures for data centres. By making consumption data visible in a standard format, the Commission aims to reduce uncertainty in debates about where new capacity should be built and how it should connect to grids and water supplies.
The approved label creates a consistent, public-facing metric for energy and water use at larger EU data centres. It is intended to inform planning and public discussion as the bloc expands its computing capacity, and it now awaits the outcome of a two-month review by EU legislators.
Data centres in Europe will be rated on energy and water consumption under an EU proposal put forward today to pre-empt possible public discontent as the bloc pushes to boost its computing capacity.
The bloc is seeking to mitigate the impact of the energy consumption necessary to its goal of tripling data centre capacity over the next five to seven years. Read more: EU proposes common energy rating scheme for data centres
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