Press release

ClientEarth lawyers intervene on Irish data centre that could send dangerous signal for Europe 

14 October 2025 

A multi-billion-euro data centre complex in Ireland under planning review could breach Ireland’s climate obligations, undermine international and EU law and set a dangerous precedent for similar developments in Europe. [1]  

This is the warning from ClientEarth to the Irish national planning body - An Coimisiún Pleanála - in its formal observation concerning the recently granted planning permission for a €3 billion data-centre complex in Naas, County Kildare.  

Local authorities granted planning permission for the centre on 20 August 2025 - and following the decision, Friends of the Irish Environment and Friends of the Earth Ireland lodged a joint appeal on the permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála. [2]  

The Herbata data centre would house six large data halls with on-site gas infrastructure and could see electricity demand triple for the county. It would risk locking Ireland into fossil fuel dependency to meet the ballooning demand – and could pass energy costs onto Irish consumers, who are already faced with a cost-of-living crisis. [3]  

ClientEarth lawyer Natascha Hospedales said:  

“This proposal is an enormous energy drain dressed up as progress. The climate, energy, and environmental impacts of this centre are major, and planning permission should be refused in our opinion. 

“Ireland’s planning authorities have a legal duty to make decisions consistent with the country’s climate plans and carbon budgets. Granting permission for a project that would burn through a quarter of the power sector’s entire carbon ceiling isn’t just bad policy – it’s unlawful. [4]  

“Therefore in our view, permission should be refused outright. 

“Ireland needs every new megawatt of renewable power to cut existing fossil generation – an ambition that risks being derailed by data centre expansion. Ireland can lead on clean, efficient digital infrastructure – but only by preventing further dependency on fossil fuels and by telling the truth in environmental assessments. Anything less is a step backwards.” 

The centre going ahead as is could also send a worrying signal in the context of unsustainable data centre growth in Europe as the European Union is trying to establish itself as a hub for AI development.[5]  

In relation to what it would mean for Europe if the complex were to be built as is, Hospedales said:  

“This isn’t just an Irish planning dispute – it’s a test of Europe’s credibility on climate law. If a single data centre can consume close to a fifth of the power major city requires, then the EU’s promise of a clean energy future rings hollow.” [6]  

“The Herbata project risks tying up scarce renewable power and lock Ireland – and by extension Europe – more deeply into fossil gas. Real digital progress means smart, efficient infrastructure powered by new clean energy, not a private drain on the grid.” 

“What happens in Naas won’t stay in Naas. It will shape how Europe balances data demand with its climate limits. Refusing this project would show that the Green Deal still has teeth.” 

ENDS

Notes to editors:

[1] In its observation to An Coimisiún Pleanála, ClientEarth has argued that the current proposal fails to fully comply with key aspects of the following EU and national laws:  

  • The European Climate Law that requires states to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.  
  • The Environmental Impact Assessment Directive which  
  • requires the developer to verify the additionality of renewables through a comprehensive and accurate definition of the baseline scenario; 
  • requires the full consideration of transboundary impacts of the project 
  • The Governance Regulation and the Energy Efficiency Directive that envisage the energy efficiency first principle  
  • Article 4(1) imposes a binding obligation of no deterioration in the status of water bodies and the achievement of “good” ecological and chemical status for bodies of surface water and of good chemical and quantitative status for groundwater bodies 
  • Derogations under Article 4(7) are permissible only in relation to the objective to achieve good status and even then only in exceptional cases and subject to strict criteria. 
  • The Habitats Directive 
  • Article 6(3) states that any plan or project likely to have a significant effect on a site protected under the Habitats Directive may only be agreed to after the competent authority has carried out an Appropriate Assessment (AA) of its implications for site integrity, in view of the site’s conservation objectives. 

[2] Kildare County Council’s full planning permission decision is available here and the more information on the Friends of the Irish Environment and Friends of the Earth Ireland joint appeal is available here. 

[3] For more on the centre’s electricity demand requirements, please see Friends of the Earth Ireland of Friends of the Irish Environment’s joint submission.   

Recent Bloomberg News analysis of wholesale electricity prices for tens of thousands of locations in the US showed that electricity now costs as much as 267 percent more for a single month than it did five years ago in areas located near significant data centre activity.   

[4] According to Friends of the Earth Ireland and Friends of the Irish Environment’s joint appeal, their calculations estimate that if this centre is operational under its current proposal, it’s annual emissions would come out to approximately 950,000 tCO₂eq, equivalent to nearly one-quarter of the electricity sector’s entire carbon budget for 2026–2030. 

They also argue that “Over a five-year carbon budgetary period, this equates to 4.74 MtCO₂eq, representing around 24% of the Sectoral Emissions Ceiling for electricity in the second carbon budget period (2026–2030).” 

[5] The European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan explicitly states the goal of making the EU a “global leader in Artificial Intelligence” and proposes major investments in AI infrastructure.  

[6] According to Friends of the Earth Ireland and Friends of the Irish Environment’s joint appeal, the Herbata campus’s continuous electricity demand would be approximately 240 MW, is roughly 2.1 TWh/year.  

For comparison, the City of Madrid consumes roughly 11.6TWh/year. See Madrid Facts and Figures, 2024 Report. 

About ClientEarth

ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. ClientEarth teams in Europe, Asia and the USA work to shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.