EU launches data centre rating for energy efficiency and water consumption

The European Union is preparing to significantly expand its computing capacity, driven primarily by the rapid development of artificial intelligence, cloud services and other resource-intensive digital technologies. At the same time, another challenge is becoming increasingly important: modern data centres require more electricity, greater grid capacity and more resources for cooling.

On 21 September 2026, the European Commission presented a common rating system for data centres designed to make their energy consumption and water use more transparent. At the same time, work began on minimum efficiency requirements for data centres in the EU. For the industry, this is an important signal: server performance, network infrastructure and power reliability remain key factors, but increasing attention will also be paid to how efficiently the entire data centre infrastructure operates.

Data centres are consuming more electricity

According to the European Commission, data centres in the European Union consumed around 68 TWh of electricity in 2024. This figure could rise significantly in the coming years: according to estimates by the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption by EU data centres could reach around 114 TWh by 2030, representing more than 3% of total electricity demand in the European Union.

The reason is not only the construction of new facilities. Computing density within existing data centres is also increasing: modern server platforms, GPU accelerators and high-performance computing equipment can consume significantly more power per rack than traditional server infrastructure. This trend is particularly noticeable in systems used to train and run artificial intelligence models.

Almost all electricity consumed by server equipment is ultimately converted into heat. That heat must be removed efficiently, which means cooling capacity has to grow alongside computing capacity. As a result, the question is no longer simply how many servers can be installed in a particular data centre, but also where the required electrical capacity will come from and how efficiently it can be used.

Europe needs more computing capacity

The new rating system comes as the European Union seeks to significantly expand its own digital infrastructure. Europe needs more computing resources for cloud platforms, AI services, scientific computing and other digital technologies, while the development of domestic infrastructure is also seen as an important part of the EU's technological independence.

However, simply building more data centres and consuming more electricity is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Growing computing capacity places additional pressure on power grids, cooling systems and other engineering infrastructure, which is why the EU is paying greater attention to efficiency alongside continued expansion.

What the new data centre rating will measure

The system proposed by the European Commission will assess data centres using several indicators:

• energy efficiency;
• water-use efficiency;
• use of renewable and low-carbon energy;
• reuse of waste heat;
• the ability of a data centre to interact flexibly with the electricity grid.

The rating will be based on information submitted by operators to a European database. Reporting on a number of indicators is already required under EU rules for data centres with an installed IT power demand of at least 500 kW, and the first electronic data centre rating labels are expected to be issued in 2027.

As a result, the characteristics of a data centre are gradually extending beyond familiar factors such as power redundancy, network connectivity, physical security and resilience. Energy efficiency is becoming another measurable characteristic of digital infrastructure.

Why the EU is also measuring water consumption

Water use is another important factor. Water is used in some data centre cooling systems, and in regions where water resources are limited, large computing facilities can place additional pressure on local infrastructure. This is why the European rating system is intended to consider not only energy consumption but also water-use efficiency.

In the longer term, this could also have a greater influence on where new data centres are built. Climate, electricity availability, local grid capacity, cooling costs and access to water are becoming factors that can determine the economics of a major computing facility for decades.

Server heat is becoming a useful resource

There is another side to the high energy consumption of data centres: server equipment generates a large amount of heat. Traditionally, the purpose of cooling systems has been to remove this heat from the equipment and release it into the environment. Increasingly, however, another approach is being considered — reusing this thermal energy.

For example, excess heat from data centres can be supplied to district heating networks or used to heat neighbouring buildings and other facilities. The European Commission specifically includes waste-heat reuse among the factors that should be considered when assessing data centres.

This approach is particularly interesting for Northern European countries. A relatively cool climate can reduce cooling requirements, while developed district heating networks create additional opportunities to make use of heat that would otherwise simply be released into the environment.

What this means for hosting

For the owner of an ordinary website, the new European rating does not directly change anything: it does not introduce additional requirements for websites, VPS instances or dedicated servers. However, for companies working with server and cloud infrastructure, the direction of travel is clear.

The cost of operating a data centre depends not only on processors, RAM, storage and networking equipment. Electricity, cooling, backup power, engineering systems and facility maintenance account for a significant share of operating costs. As computing demand grows, the efficiency with which these resources are used will have an increasing impact on the overall cost of infrastructure.

Ultimately, this may also affect the cost of VPS, dedicated servers, cloud services and other services running inside data centres. When choosing a location, factors such as the country where the server is hosted and the hardware being used may increasingly be considered alongside the efficiency of the infrastructure supporting it.

Minimum requirements are still being developed

It is important to distinguish between two separate European Commission initiatives. The data centre rating system has already been presented, while mandatory minimum efficiency requirements are still being developed.

On 21 September 2026, the European Commission opened a 12-week public consultation that will run until 14 December 2026. Based on its results, the Commission plans to prepare a legislative proposal in the second quarter of 2027.

This means that there are not yet new mandatory efficiency standards applying to all data centres. Specific indicators, threshold values and the scope of future requirements still need to be defined. Nevertheless, the overall direction is already clear: the efficiency of digital infrastructure is becoming a regulatory issue alongside its scale, reliability and performance.

Digital infrastructure is becoming part of the energy system

The EU's latest initiatives clearly demonstrate how much the role of data centres has changed. Until relatively recently, they were viewed primarily as buildings containing servers and network equipment. Today, a large data centre is simultaneously a major electricity consumer, a complex engineering facility and a significant part of a regional energy system.

The development of artificial intelligence is only strengthening this connection. In the coming years, competition within the infrastructure industry will not be limited to more powerful processors, faster storage and greater network capacity. Access to electricity, cooling efficiency, local grid capacity and the overall efficiency of a data centre will become increasingly important.

For customers, these changes may initially remain almost invisible. But they will play an important role in determining where new computing capacity is built in Europe, how much it costs to operate and how the hosting market develops as AI workloads continue to grow rapidly.