Anger mounts over environmental cost of Google datacentre in Uruguay

The datacentre will be in the Science Park, a tax-free zone near the capital, Montevideo. The centre is predicted to add 2.7% to Uruguay’s CO2 emissions. Photograph: Parque de las Ciencias

Google’s plans to build a datacentre in Uruguay have angered environmentalists, who say the project will release thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide and hazardous waste.

Uruguay’s environmental authorities recently approved the datacentre, which will use air conditioning to cool its servers. The company initially proposed using millions of litres of fresh water to cool its infrastructure, but this caused an outcry in a country that suffered its worst drought since 1950 last year, causing its capital city to run short of drinking water.