Kaineder announces new review of Google data centre

Upper Austria’s Environment and Climate Minister Stefan Kaineder has announced a new review of the planned Google data centre in Kronstorf, in the Linz-Land district, ORF reports. The move follows a decision in Lower Austria requiring an environmental impact assessment for a comparable project.

The Lower Austrian authorities ordered the assessment for a planned data centre in Leopoldsdorf, citing its large diesel emergency generators. The same issue concerns the Google project in Kronstorf, where Upper Austria’s environmental assessment authority decided in 2020 that the planned generators did not trigger such a review.

Kaineder said the matter needed to be examined closely if another Austrian authority reached a different conclusion on a comparable project. He also called for large data centres to be explicitly covered by the Environmental Impact Assessment Act.

Achleitner demands legal certainty

Upper Austria’s Economic Minister Markus Achleitner of the Austrian People’s Party sharply criticised the move. The project already had a valid official permit, he said, and there was no objective reason to reopen a completed procedure.

Achleitner described Kaineder’s position as a “180-degree reversal”. Questioning earlier decisions made within his own area of responsibility would endanger legal certainty and harm Upper Austria as a business location, he said.

WWF backs new review

The environmental organisation WWF supports the renewed examination. A project of this scale required a comprehensive environmental assessment, said Simon Pories, the WWF’s spokesperson for soil protection. The review should examine the effects on soil, water and the climate.

WWF also called for clear national rules for large data centres. In addition to their high electricity consumption, the organisation said, their land and water requirements needed to be considered.