In response to Assistant Data Minister Andrew Charlton conceding the government's data centres plan could result in more gas plants, Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Adam Bandt said:
"There is a real risk the rise in data centres could lead to an explosion of new and expensive gas-fired power stations in Australia.
"Gas is as dirty as coal and is one of the key drivers of the climate crisis.
"The government must not use new, foreign-owned data centres as an excuse to continue approving major gas climate bombs like Browse.
"The rush to approve data centres, which are water hogs and energy vampires, has the potential to derail Australia's clean energy transition.
"It will be important the AI legislation being prepared by the government includes a requirement that the energy powering data centres must be renewable and additional.
"If you want to construct a data centre in Australia, you should be compelled to build the renewable energy and water recycling infrastructure to service it."
Image by Taylor Vick, via Unsplash
