Politics·4/19/2026AI summary Microsoft and US Tech Giants Lobbied EU to Hide Datacenter Environmental Impact, Investigation Finds
An investigation has found that Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to add a secrecy provision to datacentre regulations in 2024, blocking public access to environmental performance data. The provision, written almost word-for-word from industry demands, prevents researchers from accessing individual datacentre pollution metrics, leaving only national-level summaries. Legal scholars warn the confidentiality clause violates EU transparency rules and the Aarhus convention on public access to environmental information.