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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Aisha Down and Priya Bharadia

Google developers significantly misstate carbon emissions of proposed UK datacentres

An aerial illustration shows industrial buildings arranged in rows across a green site with landscaping and access roads.
A visualisation of Greystoke’s proposed Elsham Tech Park in north Lincolnshire. Photograph: Elsham Tech Park brochure

Developers working for Google have significantly misstated how much carbon two proposed AI datacentres will contribute to the UK’s total emissions in planning documents reviewed by the Guardian.

The tech company wants to build two huge datacentres – one 52-hectare (130 acre) project in Thurrock and another at an airfield in North Weald, both in Essex. To do so, developers are required to submit planning documents calculating how much carbon these projects will emit as a proportion of the UK’s total carbon footprint.

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