On Thursday 2 April 2026, the Environmental Movement in Luxembourg reported that its Technical Criticism of the proposed Google Data Centre has been confirmed at the European Level.
The Environmental Movement, after consulting experts and obtaining legal advice, had filed a 30-page objection as part of the public procedure concerning the environmental impact assessment of the proposed Google project in Bissen.
A major criticism concerned the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of the data centre (the closer the value is to 1, the higher the efficiency): According to the environmental impact assessment, this value is 1.3 at Google in Bissen, while Google achieves an average of 1.09 over twelve months for its entire global network of data centres. The international standard applicable to large data centres is 1.15. (1) According to the Environmental Movement referencing recent press articles, the EU is considering introducing a kind of "energy label" for data centres; (2) Besides water consumption, the energy efficiency factor would be a central element of this label.
According to the European Commission, class A would be introduced for the best energy efficiency, with a value less than or equal to 1.15.
The Google project in Bissen, with a PUE of 1.3, would far exceed this…
Questions from the Environmental Movement:
- How could Google's environmental impact assessment have been included in the public procedure when international energy efficiency standards are not being met?
- Did Google request a confidentiality clause regarding the energy audit, thus infringing on citizens' rights to access information relating to environmental impact?
How does Luxembourg intend to position itself internationally as a digital hub if fundamental standards are not applied in such a data centre?
According to the Environmental Movement, there can only be one explanation for this approach that they describe as "irresponsible": the Ministry of the Environment and Energy, or even the government, "has been duped by Google".
The Environmental Movement claims that Google's intention — as experts have long suspected, according to the Environmental Movement — is to obtain a more favourable (because less restrictive) permit even before the introduction of the European label.
Does our country wish to play this game or to respect its environmental and climate commitments?
The full opposition statement from the Ecological Movement can be found at www.meco.lu.
