The Scottish government has announced new regulations requiring large scale datacentres to undergo mandatory environmental impact assessments. These assessments must be submitted during the planning process for any project exceeding 50 megawatts. This decision by the government comes amid increasing public concern regarding the environmental effects stemming from the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.
The rule change was revealed ahead of a parliamentary vote scheduled for Wednesday in Holyrood, which will consider a moratorium on new hyperscale datacentres. While the government has tightened development rules by implementing these strict assessment requirements, it has stopped short of agreeing to an outright halt or moratorium on new large scale projects.