Proposed London datacentre will have annual carbon footprint of 27,000 flights to New York
Exclusive: Planning documents show datacentre in North Ockendon would be incompatible with UK net zero targets
A “hyperscale” datacentre in outer London would generate more than 1m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, equivalent to the carbon footprint of 27,000 flights from London to New York, planning documents show.
The East Havering Data Centre Campus (EHDCC) in North Ockendon would be one of the largest datacentres in Europe if approved by Havering council, using 218 hectares of green belt to run servers and data storage systems for AI and cloud computing. Its developer, Digital Reef, has described the scheme as “a unique opportunity to create a sustainable datacentre campus of the future”.
But in the planning application, Digital Reef says the £14.7bn project “does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050”. Documents estimate the development would generate more than 72m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) over its projected 60-year lifespan – 1.2m tonnes annually once fully operational.
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Donald Campbell, advocacy director at the tech justice nonprofit Foxglove, said the EHDCC’s projected emissions were “staggering”.
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The scale of datacentre emissions raises questions over how Britain’s rapid expansion of AI infrastructure can be reconciled with the government’s legally binding climate targets.
The government designated datacentres as “critical national infrastructure” in 2024, putting the tech developments on an equal footing with water, energy and emergency services systems.
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The full article is very informative and recommended: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/21/proposed-london-datacentre-will-have-annual-carbon-footprint-of-27000-flights-to-new-york
