EU proposes loosening rules on AI gigafactories in green rollback

Jessika Roswall, the environment and water commissioner, said the proposed package was ‘not a dilution of our environmental rules’. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/EPA

Datacentres, AI gigafactories and affordable housing may be exempt from mandatory environmental impact assessments in the EU under a proposal that advances the European Commission’s rollback of green rules.

The latest in a series of packages to cut red tape calls for permitting processes for critical projects to be sped up and reducing the scope of environmental reporting rules for businesses.