Proposed London datacentre will have annual carbon footprint of 27,000 flights to New York
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Digital Reef's £14.7bn East Havering Data Centre Campus would generate 1.2m tonnes of CO2e annually once fully operational — the highest projected emissions of any UK datacentre developer disclosure, according to Guardian analysis of dozens of planning documents.
- Digital Reef's own planning application admits the 60-year project "does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050," estimating total lifetime emissions of 72m tonnes CO2e.
- The 218-hectare campus on north Ockendon green belt would consume 2.65bn kWh of electricity per year — equivalent to the demand of more than 1m UK households — with full National Grid connection through a new 400kV substation not expected until 2033.
- By 2038, EHDCC's operational emissions alone would consume nearly 20 times the entire carbon budget of the borough of Havering and almost 1% of the UK's entire carbon budget, per the developer's documents.
- Foxglove's Donald Campbell called the projected emissions "staggering," warning the datacentre is "a big threat to the ability to decarbonise in the UK" and a drain on grid resources needed by homes and other businesses.
- The UK government designated datacentres "critical national infrastructure" in 2024 and amended planning legislation in January so developers can apply as nationally significant infrastructure projects and bypass local authorities — while Neso has warned developers have requested 72.8GW of grid connections by 2039, nearly 60% above the UK's peak power demand last year.
- North Ockendon Residents Association called the development a "massacre" of green belt farmland, while Digital Reef offered an estimated £77.6m cash-in-lieu payment to Havering's carbon offset fund to cover residual emissions.
Why it matters: Digital Reef's own admission that the 60-year project breaks the UK's 1.5C climate trajectory exposes the gap between the government's "critical national infrastructure" designation for datacentres and its legally binding net-zero obligations. If approved, Havering alone would absorb 20 times its carbon budget from one site by 2038, while the broader sector races to quadruple its already 2.5% share of UK electricity demand by 2030.
Ask SkimNews
