Environment
Impact on our Environment
The idea that digital activity is "clean" is a common misconception. In reality, the UK’s digital sector accounts for approximately 4.75% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions—a footprint roughly equivalent to the entire waste management and landfill sector.
What is digital waste?
There are many types of digital waste, but we are mainly concerned with data stored on servers despite having absolutely no value, like the photos you took 2 years ago and never look at. Inefficient software architecture and unnecessary processing like AI prompts or unused video streaming all add up. Every single file stored in the cloud requires physical server space. Those servers must be powered 24/7 and kept cool.
The environmental strain
Storing thousands of gigabytes of trivial data directly increases our collective carbon footprint and water usage unnecessarily. Furthermore data centre facilities have been found to contribute to local air and noise pollution, e-waste generation, and increased utility rates for neighboring communities. Along with the development of AI, impact of our digital lives is becoming more and more visible.
Should we be worried about the environmental impacts of AI data centres?
"Water demand of AI data centres could be equivalent to the basic needs of 1.3 billion people by 2030," Global Witness’s head of investigations Patrick Galey has told the BBC's Politics Live.
Former Brexit Party MEP Lucy Harris, argued AI is good for growth and that “when it comes to the cost of living crisis, the priority of ordinary people is not the climate.”
BBC Presenter Vicki Young was also joined in the studio by Labour MP Lola McEvoy and Green MP Siân Berry.
In what way does it affect our environment?
Our lives are increasingly becoming more digital. We're online, using apps, websites, we order food online and shop online. We save our most beloved photos online, we stream music, TV and so much more. But the data that supports all our online actvity has a physical impact. It affects our water, our air, electricity, net zero even our mental wellbeing.
Digital waste affects our...
Hidden CO2
A landmark study funded by the UK government revealed that 63% of the UK digital sector's entire greenhouse gas footprint is due to embodied emissions, while only 37% comes from operational usage.
Localised Water Strain
Data centres are heavily clustered in specific UK regions (such as Slough and West London), placing an enormous strain on local water infrastructure where capacity is already tightly constrained.
Water
A major, often hidden consequence of digital waste is its immense local water footprint. Data centres generate massive amounts of heat, and the UK's expanding data facilities rely heavily on evaporative cooling to keep equipment from melting.
Electricity Use
The UK digital sector consumes nearly 10% of the entire UK electricity demand. Data centres alone devour about 41% of that share.
E-waste
Poorly optimised data handling mean that hardware like servers, user devices, routers must be upgraded or replaced far faster than necessary. Manufacturing a single server emits huge amounts of CO2 before it's even connected.
Air Pollution
To maintain the "five-nines" (99.999%) uptime required by digital infrastructure, many data centres house industrial diesel backup generators. While they provide emergency power - they're turned on for routine testing and maintenance. When operated they emit air pollutants, specifically Nitrogen Oxides and Particulate Matter, directly impacting the air quality of surrounding communities.
Water and AI
The rise of AI processing—where an inference prompt can require significantly more resources than standard search queries—intensifies water use. Globally, the UN warns that by 2030, AI data centres could consume water equivalent to the domestic needs of 1.3 billion people, a crisis being felt locally in the UK as councils struggle to balance water security with tech infrastructure.
Dark Data
An estimated 55% of data stored by UK organisations is "dark data" (collected but never used) and 33% is redundant, obsolete or trivial "ROT" data. Keeping these files powered on servers wastes electricity that could otherwise help decarbonise other parts of the UK grid. Loughborough University
Electricity Bills
While data centres aren't directly inflating monthly electricity bills today, a £90 billion grid overhaul required to accommodate them means consumers could face indirect infrastructure levies on their bills over the next decade.
Electricity and net zero
In 2023, UK data centres consumed approximately 5.0 TWh of electricity—about 2% of total UK demand and 7% of commercial power. The carbon footprint depends heavily on grid carbon intensity, with total operational impacts projected to soar as new AI-specific hyperscale facilities and denser GPU racks come online.
This growth could result in emissions up to 123 million tonnes of CO2 between 2025 and 2035. This accounts for roughly 0.9% to 3.4% of the UK’s projected total carbon emissions over that decade.
Embodied emissions
Many studies focus on the CO2 produced when a data centre is operational, but a large majority of emissions occur during the production of circuit boards, construction, and replacement. These are "embodied emissions". Data centres are responsible for 35% of the UK digital sector's overall emissions, that's 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 1 million petrol cars.
The construction, equipment and server refresh cycle - where old servers are stripped out and replaced with faster ones to handle workloads like AI, all contribute a staggering 63% of the UK's digital footprint. The reason it's so high is that we still rely on overseas factories (often powered by coal or gas in Asia or the US) to manufacture the physical servers and building materials.
Other effects
Not only the grid, water supply and carbon targets are affected by poorly designed data centres and digital waste. There are local environmental effects - air pollution, climate impacts, noise even land competition. In Virginia, often described as “the data center capital of the world,” we can see how growth is reshaping local conditions ― and how emerging governance practices that help manage trade-offs.
UK's digital activity
4.75%
Total greenhouse gas emissions
The digital sector contributes and estimated 19.28 Million tonnes CO2e to the UK’s GHG emissions
Noise pollution
Data center construction, rooftop cooling systems and backup generators can be disruptively noisy. Smaller diesel generators reportedly reach 85 decibels, levels that can harm hearing. Larger industrial units can approach 100 decibels — equivalent to a motorcycle or jackhammer.
This noise can last for hours or days at a time. Residents in Loudon County, Virginia, reported disruptions in sleep, headaches and even lower quality of life because of a nearby data center, experiences that were echoed during a recent congressional roundtable.
Air pollution
Some data centers house gas power on-site for day-to-day operations, creating continuous air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most visible examples is unfolding in Memphis, Tennessee, where more than 30 natural gas turbines intended for daily use are being installed at xAI’s new Colossus data center. Local residents and the NAACP filed a notice with intent to sue under the Clean Air Act, arguing that the project could worsen already dangerous air quality in a city that faces high asthma rates and longstanding environmental health disparities.
In what ways do data centers affect U.S. communities?
We break down the impacts — and how some states are dealing with them.
Data center developments can create real economic opportunities. Including construction jobs, and positions for technicians, electricians and other local building trade workers, as well as generating revenue for local councils. But these benefits must be weighed against long-term public costs, including investments in water systems, electrical substations, transmission lines, roads and emergency services, and the local environmental impacts.
Some governments, especially in areas like Virginia - are imposing stronger tools to support negotiations with developers. They require more transparency, construction pauses to assess site criteria and community safeguards, plus in Lancaster, Pa., new developments must use clean energy; mitigate noise; support local employment programs; and deliver $10 million for economic development and climate goals.
Impact on:
Read more about the impact of digital waste on our environment, water, the grid and other resources.
The impact of AI
AI is already being used across UK, from big business, local councils to policing and the NHS. But without clear oversight and clean digital operations, the risks will grow.
Data centres and our water resources
The massive cooling demands of data centres processing our digital waste consume billions of litres of fresh water daily, heavily straining local watersheds and intensifying global water scarcity.
The hidden carbon footprint
Digital waste is far from carbon neutral; it consumes significant electricity and resources.
The relentless expansion of data centres to process our digital waste is placing an unprecedented strain on electricity grids and consuming vast amounts of water for cooling, significantly driving up the global carbon footprint.
