Edinburgh councillors have voted to consider pausing all new “green” data centre developments in the region until the Scottish Government sets out a clear national definition to guide future planning decisions.

Bringing the motion, Scottish Greens councillor Alys Mumford said that despite only green data centres being prioritised as critical national infrastructure, the government have provided local planners only the “vaguest suggestions” of what should be considered green.

“As it is only green data centres which count as national infrastructure, this definition of what green means is really key,” said Mumford.

“This particular motion is not saying we should never have another data centre in Edinburgh. It’s saying that if the Scottish government feels that only green data centres are of national importance, we need to know what they mean by green.”

Passing the motion by 51 votes to 10, councillors agreed that a report should be prepared on the feasibility of a temporary ban on all new data centres until a definition of “green” exists or more national guidance is in place.

The vote also opened the door to potential coordinated action across South East Scotland, with councillors seeking to work with neighbouring authorities on how a potential moratorium would affect the wider region.

Confusion over the precise definition of green has already led to planned data centres being derailed, with Edinburgh councillors finding themselves in the spotlight following their rejection of a major “green” data centre project marked for the old Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters in South Gyle.

Though the city’s chief planning officer had recommended that permission be granted for the 213MW facility, the council later questioned the build’s environmental credentials under local development plans and national regulations.

While the rejection of those plans generated plenty of headlines, both in favour and critical of the council’s decision, the move to consider a moratorium on future projects comes at a critical moment for the Scottish Government. 

In a case of very bad timing, a day after the council passed Mumford’s motion, the deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, launched Scotland’s five-year AI Strategy at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, with green data centres a key pillar of those plans.  

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With Edinburgh council members now mulling an outright ban, Dr Kat Jones, director of environmental campaign group Action to Protect Rural Scotland, said: “This is a very important result – it demonstrates the critical importance of having a proper definition of what a ‘green data centre’ is.

“We are calling for the Scottish Government to urgently produce a well-considered and rigorous definition of a green data centre. This definition would need to be properly consulted on, due to the environmental impacts of hyperscale data centres, as well as the impacts they would have on the grid, electricity prices, local countryside and communities, as well as our climate targets.”

However, others argue for caution, with Alasdair Sutherland, partner and head of Planning & Environment at Burness Paull, warning on social media that “we cannot play politics” with AI development.

“We need to build a positive consensus around AI,” wrote Sutherland. “We have a golden opportunity to be at the very forefront of responsible data centre development, which will benefit the whole of Scotland, its people and its economy.”