Worried about the ecological impact of data centers, French associations require a moratorium

“”Plug, baby, plug“. It is by a parodiating formulation Donald Trump that Emmanuel Macron called digital manufacturers a few weeks ago to develop their services in France And therefore to deploy their servers on the territory. With this in mind, article 15 of the “Simplification of Economic Life” bill aims to facilitate the deployment of these infrastructures “of major national interest“.

Worried by the carbon footprint of these warehouses and by the grabbing of the resources they cause, the quadrature of the net and the collective the cloud was under our feet and1st a moratorium before the construction of new sites in France.

Servers are thirsty

First reason quoted, their environmental imprint. While France already has 300 data centers that absorb “2 % of total annual French consumption“In electricity, the quadrature of the net is concerned about”speculative boom“What constitutes AI for this sector.”Several data centers with a maximum power of 1 GW, the equivalent of a nuclear reactor, were announced in February 2025 at the IA summit“, denounces the association.

Accused of encouraging “Mining extractivism“, to weigh risks on the surrounding populations due to the possible leaks of fuel oil or fluorinated gas or to create islets of heat in the city, these structures cause”Crossed predations on water and electricity“Denounces the quadrature of the net.

The immense thirst for these rows of servers is documented by the digital giants themselves. “”Google, for example, revealed that it has taken 28 billion liters of water around the world in 2023, including two thirds of drinking water, to cool its data centers“, dissect the association, based on Google’s 2023 environmental report. Ditto for Microsoft with an increase of 34 % of its annual water consumption.

An uneven distribution

If the amount of water used to cool and feed these servers is not significant in itself, it is the distribution of this resource and its use that make teeth cringe. These immense farms of servers often set up on the outskirts of cities and in “cluster”, accentuating tension on resources. The ïle-de-France, for example, alone had more than 160 data centers in 2023according to the Paris Region Institute. The bulk of this figures is also concentrated in the most precarious regions of the area.

The Quadrature of the Net therefore wishes a debate and a break in deployments time to better supervise this practice, Just as some deputies suggested it recently. For its part, the government does not hide its desire to go quickly on the subject. By reclassifying the data centers of “major national project of interest“, The law would avoid carrying out environmental assessments.