A-Infos (en) Poland, AF: Environmental Impact of Data Centers (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

One of the largest data centers is slated for construction in 
Bielsko-Biala. Investments of this type are only just beginning to 
emerge in Poland, and understandably, this raises concerns among 
residents. Investors and local politicians are trying to allay our 
concerns by referring to the creation of new opportunities for 
investment, economic development, and Poland's greater market 
attractiveness. The natural environment is once again omitted from these 
discussions, or dismissed with classic business slogans about 
sustainable development and ensuring environmental sustainability.

In this analysis, I would like to present current knowledge on the 
environmental impact of data centers, share conclusions from investments 
made in other countries, and present counterarguments to the 
environmental forecast published  by engineer Karolina Kloc from the 
City Development Office.

The overall impact of data centers on climate and the environment

Let's start with the most obvious aspect - data centers consume enormous 
amounts of electricity, which is associated with greenhouse gas 
emissions. In 2022, they accounted for 2-3% of global electricity 
consumption and 0.4-0.75% of all emissions ( Cao et al., 2023 ). This 
may not seem like much, but we must consider that this sector is still 
developing, with plans to increase capacity to ~100 GW by 2030, doubling 
current consumption ( 2026 Global Data Center Outlook , jll.com). 
Despite the development of renewable energy sources, they are not (and 
likely will not be) able to meet the current needs of people, 
production, and the rapidly growing technology industry ( Prokopowicz, 
2025 ). Therefore, a significant portion of the energy powering data 
centers comes from fossil fuels. The climate aspect is further related 
to the fact that the weather is getting warmer, which will require 
increased energy consumption for cooling.

Data centers themselves do not exist in isolation from other industries. 
Components for building machines must be extracted, which entails not 
only the enormous environmental impact of mining operations, including 
deforestation, water pollution, and threats to biodiversityin Oceania, 
nearly 37% of cobalt mines were located in nature conservation areas ( 
Feng et al., 2025 ), but also significant threats to local communities. 
Mining minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and gold is associated with 
increased political instability in the region, slave labor (including 
child labor), and irreversible health impacts (ibid.). One can only 
imagine the suffering of both human and nonhuman beings involved in 
producing the electrical devices we use every day.

DL Invest Group, the entity responsible for building the data center in 
Bielsko-Biala, claims that: "  Our data centers are powered 100% by 
green energy  ( https://dlinvest.pl/data-center/ ). Unfortunately, 
there's no mention of whether all of this comes from photovoltaic 
panels. Unlikely, given the planned 82MW for data center operations, and 
their farm is capable of producing 10MWp. A MWp unit represents the 
amount of power produced during full exposure to sunlight, which doesn't 
happen all day long. Currently, Bielsko-Biala is undergoing a transition 
from electrical installations to gas-fired power. Does the company also 
consider this source of mythical  green energy? It's worth noting that 
burning gas releases methane into the atmosphere, which, over a 10-20 
year period, has an 86-times greater impact on global warming than 
carbon dioxide ( Maciag and Wiekiera, 2022 ). DL Invest Group doesn't 
mention much about other forms of technology that can enhance their 
reliability while respecting the environment , but it's worth mentioning 
the rebound effect . This effect means that energy-efficient 
technologies don't actually reduce resource consumption. On the 
contrary, they lead to increased consumption due to lower costs and 
increased availability ( Prokopowicz, 2025 ).

In short, the development of data centers runs counter to all efforts to 
combat and adapt to climate change. There are no reliable assurances or 
analyses that would reassure us that current construction will not 
contribute to the global trend of high-emission investments serving 
corporations involved in cloud gaming, AI, and other cloud services.

Data Center Cooling Problem

Anyone who uses electrical devices has experienced how hot they can 
become after prolonged use. This heat negatively impacts the device's 
long-term health, so this aspect must be taken into account in 
large-scale data centers.

Data centers consume hundreds of thousands of liters of water daily. It 
is estimated that 10-20 MW facilities consume 416 million liters of 
water per year ( Yañez-Barnuevo, 2025 ). For larger projects, this 
amounts to nearly 7 billion liters of water per year, equivalent to the 
average water consumption of a city with a population of 10,000-50,000.

Communities around the world where construction has taken place are 
fighting big tech companies to halt the project. In Mexico, Querétaro, 
data centers run by companies like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and 
ODATA are using billions of liters of water to power their servers, 
while the local population last year experienced the worst drought in 
decades ( Bearne, 2025 ). In Georgia, on the Flint River, Meta's data 
center is silting up the river. This is sediment runoffand potentially 
flocculants. These are chemicals used in construction to bind soil and 
prevent erosion, but if they enter the water system, they can create 
sediment. The company has pleaded not guilty ( Fleury and Jimenez, 2025 ).

A Bloomberg analysis estimates that as many as two-thirds of new data 
centers are located in arid regions with limited access to water ( 
Nicolletti, Ma, and Bas, 2025 ). The map below, created by the Guardian, 
shows the locations of 632 data centers belonging to Amazon, Microsoft, 
and Google, along with regions with limited access to water. Communities 
living in these places already struggle with drought and poverty, a 
situation that giant corporations seem oblivious to when profits and 
low-cost investment in a country of the Global South loom on the horizon.

The impact of the data center on the local environment

Data centers are noisy. The main sources of noise include generators 
(85-100 dBA), cooling systems (55-85 dBA), and power drawn from the 
power grid. Safe noise levels are around 70 dBA, while exposure above 85 
dBA is hazardous to hearing ( Richardson, 2024 ). Besides being harmful 
and uncomfortable for humans, industrial noise has a significant 
negative impact on animals. A common consequence of noise exposure is 
increased adrenaline and cortisol levels, which can be interpreted as a 
stress response ( Kight and Swaddle, 2011 ). However, in the case of a 
data center, when animals experience constant noise, behavioral changes 
are crucial. These include: changes in predator-prey interactions, 
chronic stress, impaired communication between individuals, and 
disrupted migration paths ( Slabbekoorn, 2019 ). It's important to 
remember that many animals can hear frequencies beyond the range of 
human hearing. Therefore, the effects of sound pollution can be much 
more harmful to them.

Conclusions from the environmental forecast

The environmental forecast was published in December 2025 by the City 
Development Office. It was written without taking into account the 
construction of the data center. Nevertheless, the arguments presented 
below may still be valid, given that such an investment is not subject 
to the obligation to conduct a separate environmental forecast. 
Therefore, when the investment is completed, it is possible that 
environmental issues will not be taken into account in the issuance of 
appropriate permits.

Air circulation

As mentioned earlier, data centers generate enormous amounts of heat, 
which must then be released outdoors. This leads to the generation of 
heat clouds around the investment. The Biala River Valley is a key 
region for air exchange, characterized by moderately favorable wind 
conditions ( IMGW, 2016 ). The city has long struggled with smog, so 
focusing on free air circulation in this region is crucial.

Threat to strategic groundwater resources

The investment is located directly adjacent to the Biala River, within 
the boundaries of the Biala River Local Groundwater Reservoir, which is 
highly vulnerable to groundwater, and within ecological and ventilation 
corridors connected to the Biala River Valley. This means that the city 
has decided to limit construction and development of projects in this 
area. Unfortunately, it is safe to assume that the construction of the 
data center will significantly weaken Bielsko-Biala's water resources. 
The city is poor in groundwater, which is crucial for providing water 
for the economy and the daily lives of residents, is responsible for 
local climatic conditions (in terms of temperature and humidity), and is 
crucial for sustaining ecosystems.

The environmental forecast extensively discusses the city's water access 
problems. However, it neglects to consider the impact of the planned 
investment on this situation. Without providing a specific reason, it 
claims that  the draft local development plan incorporates appropriate 
solutions and protective measures, and that its implementation, in 
accordance with separate regulations, will not significantly impact the 
state and quality of water, health, and sanitation in the area covered 
by the draft plan and its surroundings. The city's funding program may 
facilitate the implementation of solutions such as "green roofs ." It's 
fantastic that there is funding for green roofs, but it won't save us 
from droughts and floods. The forecast skillfully employs greenwashing 
tactics, creating the illusion that a given investment is compatible 
with nature and ecology, while in reality, it inadequately addresses the 
problem. DL Invest Group employs the same strategy, claiming they are 
environmentally conscious and care about the environment.

In 2022, Sustainalytics analyzed 122 data center companies and found 
that only 16% transparently disclosed information about their 
investments' water management and risk management ( Johnson and Molnar, 
2022 ). Similarly, DL Invest Group's website and portfolio contain no 
mention of water or its use by the company in Bielsko-Biala (as of March 
11, 2026).

What can we realistically expect in terms of water resources? Based on 
estimates of the current distribution of cooling technologies, it is 
estimated that an average 100-megawatt large-scale data center in the 
United States will consume a total of about 2 million liters of water 
per daythe equivalent of about 6,500 households ( Cozzi, 2024 ). Where 
will DL Invest Group get these resources? How will they cool their 
server rooms? Why does the environmental analysis seem to ignore the 
fact that Bielsko-Biala's dwindling water resources should be given the 
highest priority for conservation? Once again, we encounter 
environmental analyses in which our knowledge of the threats to nature 
and people is vast, yet ignored in practice to push forward a harmful 
investment.

Climate

In the context of climate, we already know that data center investments 
contradict all assumptions of the green transformation, given that they 
cannot currently be fully powered by renewable energy. However, the 
environmental forecast claims  that the potential impact of implementing 
the draft plan on climate change adaptation may not be negative due to 
the approval of renewable energy generation facilities and the 
implementation of blue-green infrastructure, which is intended, among 
other things, to retain and manage stormwater.  As previously mentioned, 
a 10 MWp photovoltaic farm will not be sufficient to support such a 
large investment. Blue-green infrastructure includes retention ponds, 
basins, reservoirs, bioretention ditches, infiltration ditches, rain 
gardens, green bus stops, roofs, facades and walls, permeable surfaces, 
structural substrates, green areas and wetlands, etc. ( Department of 
Water Management and Inland Navigation, 2023 ). What solutions will be 
implemented in this case? The forecast highlights the high risk of water 
pollution in areas near the investment. How will DL Invest Group prevent 
this?

Summary

In point 12, the authors of the Forecast point out  difficulties 
resulting from technical deficiencies or gaps in modern knowledge , and 
DL Invest Group fails to provide detailed information on counteracting 
negative environmental effects. This means there is no basis for 
claiming that the investment will have no impact on the city's natural 
environment or water resources, which I have attempted to demonstrate.

Therefore, it's time to get involved in countering investments that will 
negatively impact nature. Nature won't protect itself, and we can't 
survive without it. We must understand that we can't satisfy our hunger 
with money and online games.

Green Star

datacenterbb.noblogs.org

Sources:

Bearne, S. (2025).  AI demand means data centers are worsening drought 
in Mexico . BBC. Link:  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2ngz7ep1eo .

Cao, Z., Zhou, X., Wu, X., Zhu, Z., Liu, T., Neng, J. and Wen, Y. 
(2023).  Data Center Sustainability: Revisits and Outlooks . IEEE 
transactions on sustainable computing, pp.1-13.

Cozzi, L. et al. (2024).  Energy and AI. World Energy Outlook Special 
Report.  International Energy Agency.

Feng, Z., Wang, L., Liang, T., Dai, L., Yang, X., Zhou, G., Huan, Y., 
Wang, P., Li, W., Hughes, A. C. and Giljum, S. (2025). Quantifying the 
Environmental Impacts and Human Health Risks of Global Cobalt Mining and 
Processing.  Environmental Science & Technology .

Fleury, M., Jimenez, N. (2025).  'I can't drink the water' - life next 
to a US data center . BBC. Link: 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o .

Gov.pl (2023).  Blue-green infrastructure. Why is it so important for 
retention? - Retention - Gov.pl Portal . Link: 
https://www.gov.pl/web/retencja/blekitno-zielona-infrastruktura-dlaczego-jest-tak-wazna-dla-retencji

Kight, C. R. and Swaddle, J. P. (2011).  How and why environmental noise 
impacts animals: an integrative, mechanistic review . Ecology Letters, 
14(10), pp.1052-1061. doi: 
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01664.x .

Johnson, E., Molnar, K. (2022).  ESG Risks Affecting Data Centers: Why 
Water Resource Use Matters to Investors.  Sustainalytics. Link: 
https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-research/resource/investors-esg-blog/esg-risks-affecting-data-centers-why-water-resource-use-matters-to-investors

Lawson, A. J., Offutt, M. C., Zhu, L. (2026).  Data Centers and Their 
Energy Consumption: Frequently Asked Question pp. Library of Congress

Maciag, D., Wiekiera, K. (2022).  The European Parliament has recognized 
gas and nuclear energy as "sustainable" energy sources. This is a 
sabotage to climate protection and security!  Dzikie Zycie Magazine. 
Link: 
https://dzikiezycie.pl/archiwum/2022/wrzesien-2022/europarlament-uznal-gaz-i-atom-za-zrownowazone-zrodlo-energii-to-sabotaz-dla-ochrony-klimatu-i-bezpieczenstwa

Nicoletti, L., Ma, M. and Bass, D. (2025).  How AI Demand Is Draining 
Local Water Supplies . Bloomberg.com. Available at: 
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-ai-impacts-data-centers-water-data/?embedded-checkout=true 
.

Prokopowicz, D. (2025)  Artificial Intelligence, Data Centers and Global 
Warming: An Interdisciplinary Energy-Environmental Analysis , article 
manuscript, preprint ( 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394435780_Sztuczna_inteligencja_centra_danych_i_globalne_oci 
eplenie_Interfesjonalarna_analiza_energetyczno-srodowiskowa )

Richardson, K. (2024).  Understanding the impact of data center noise 
pollution . Search Data Center. Link: 
https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/tip/Understanding-the-impact-of-data-center-noise-pollution 
.

Slabbekoorn, H. (2019).  Noise pollution . Current Biology, 29(19), 
pp.R957-R960. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.07.018 .

Yañez-Barnuevo, M. (2025).  Data Centers and Water Consumption . 
Eesi.org. Link: 
https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption .

https://federacja-anarchistyczna.pl/2026/05/28/wplyw-centrum-danych-na-srodowisko-naturalne/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en