EU Launches Public Consultation on Minimum Performance Standards for Data Centres

The European Commission has opened a 12-week public consultation and call for evidence on proposed minimum performance standards for data centres across the European Union, marking a significant step toward regulating the energy and environmental footprint of one of the continent's fastest-growing infrastructure sectors.

The consultation, which will remain open until 14 December 2026, is intended to gather stakeholder feedback that will inform the Commission's preparatory work for a legislative proposal expected in the second quarter of 2027. The initiative underscores Brussels' growing determination to reconcile the rapid expansion of data centre capacity with the bloc's energy resilience, climate targets and technological sovereignty ambitions.

Expanding data centre capacity is widely regarded as essential for the EU's competitiveness and digital autonomy. However, the sector's growth presents mounting challenges that extend beyond raw energy consumption, encompassing strain on electricity grids, rising carbon emissions and the depletion of environmental resources such as water used for cooling. Under the existing Energy Efficiency Directive, the Commission is empowered to propose further measures to improve the energy performance of data centres, including the introduction of binding minimum performance standards. Such standards, if adopted, could meaningfully reduce both the energy consumption and the overall environmental footprint of data centres operating within the EU.

The EU has already taken several important steps to improve the sustainability of its data centre sector and to promote its integration with the broader energy system. The Energy Efficiency Directive introduced provisions aimed at fostering greater energy efficiency and sustainability across the industry. On 3 June 2026, the Commission published a strategic roadmap for the digitalisation of the energy sector and the deployment of artificial intelligence within it. In addition, the data centre energy efficiency package, also published today, seeks to further enhance transparency through a common EU rating scheme and label for data centres, providing operators, investors and consumers with a standardised framework for assessing energy performance.

The launch of this consultation signals a clear regulatory trajectory: the EU is moving toward a harmonised framework that could impose mandatory efficiency benchmarks on data centres, potentially reshaping how operators design, build and manage facilities across member states. Industry participants, from hyperscalers to colocation providers, will be watching closely as the feedback period unfolds, given the significant compliance and investment implications that minimum performance standards could entail.