On Thursday 9 July 2026, local non-profit organisation Mouvement Ecologique issued a statement on the proposed Google data centre in Bissen, in which it highlighted its thoughts on the conclusions drawn by Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Environment following the publication of the environmental impact assessment of the proposed data centre in Bissen.
In its statement, the non-profit organisation detailed that following the public inquiry on the legally required environmental impact assessment in March 2026, it filed a 31-page objection highlighting what it believes are serious shortcomings. The main criticism being that the planned data centre is far less efficient than Google's other facilities, energy consumption would be considerable, and the consequences for people and the environment would be highly problematic.
Following the public procedure, the Mouvement Ecologique requested the conclusions drawn by Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Environment. According to Mouvement Ecologique these were published on a sub-page of the ministry's website and contained “virtually none” of the suggestions made by the organisation, which had been developed in collaboration with foreign experts, while none of those from other stakeholders were taken into account.
Mouvement Ecologique detailed that at the end of June/beginning of July, the public procedure for the building permit took place and highlighted that unlike many municipalities that make such information available online, the commune of Bissen required a prior appointment with its technical department, to be consulted on-site during regular working hours. An approach the non-profit organisation stressed is particularly burdensome for working people, who must also wade through hundreds of pages and plans.
Mouvement Ecologique emphasised that the building permit is just “one piece of the puzzle” in the overall authorisation procedure, and from an environmental perspective, it is above all the operating permit (whose procedure is still pending) that is of fundamental importance. Raising the how a building can be planned if the technical installations have not yet been approved, Mouvement Ecologique noted that the building permit application makes no mention of heat recovery and associated infrastructure, with rooftop surfaces only to be partially used for photovoltaic panels and soil sealing regarded as “excessive”. Following this, Mouvement Ecologique said it has filed a detailed objection in this regard.
Moreover, Mouvement Ecologique's lawyer addressed two key legal aspects of the dossier in a letter to Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Environment:
- Google's confidentiality clause is legally inadmissible
Mouvement Ecologique said the legal analysis by its lawyer is unequivocal in that the confidentiality of certain data — in particular regarding energy and CO₂ balances — contradicts applicable law, with the data in question containing precisely the information that is decisive for the public assessment of the project from an energy and climate policy perspective: energy requirements, emissions and climate balance calculations. Such data, it said, cannot, according to the legal analysis, be classified as a trade secret; it is of considerable public interest.
According to the non-profit organisation, under Luxembourg law, including that relating to access to environmentally relevant information, a confidentiality clause may not be used to withhold from citizens the essential environmental consequences of a project. Mouvement Ecologique's lawyer has therefore approached the "commission d'accès aux documents" to request its opinion and to have it, if necessary, prompt the Ministry of the Environment to release the information.
- Using waste heat rather than burdening the climate
According to Mouvement Ecologique, under the current plans Google would release substantial quantities of waste heat into the atmosphere rather than putting it to good use. Whereas most modern data centres ordinarily feed their waste heat into district heating networks, supplying residential areas, public buildings or industrial facilities. But while official sources do not dispute that the use of waste heat would be important and sensible, they argue that this use cannot be imposed on Google, as Luxembourg does not yet have a heat law that would explicitly regulate this.
The Mouvement Ecologique's lawyer disputes this in a letter to Luxembourg’s Minister of the Environment Serge Wilmes, stating that existing legislation does indeed allow such conditions to be imposed under the "best available technique" requirement.
Mouvement Ecologique said that the Ministry of the Environment had not responded to these arguments in any way.
Mouvement Ecologique said: “It is incomprehensible that Luxembourg should effectively court a company like Google so that it can develop 34 hectares of valuable land at one of Luxembourg's best industrial sites, without the concrete added value being demonstrated — and this at a time when Europe wants to become less dependent on such companies and to give greater support to European firms.”
It added: “It would be the last straw if the legally required public Commodo-Incommodo procedure — for the granting of the operating permit — were to take place during the summer months! It is entirely plausible that Google would then submit hundreds of pages as part of the procedure. The State must do everything possible to prevent such a situation. Google was planned over ten years ago — the project has dragged on partly through its own fault. The Luxembourg government should take into account the fact that the world today is different… and so is the way we look at Google.”
