40 cities set first global standards for AI data centers: Renewable energy and water limits required
Forty mayors from cities across four continents, including several in the US, have signed a global pact to establish new conditions for accepting AI data centers. This agreement aims to manage the industry's strain on power grids, water supplies, and land use, with cities like Phoenix experiencing significant pressure from proposed data center developments. The pact requires new data centers to meet renewable energy, water reduction, and local benefit standards.
Mayors from 40 cities across four continents have signed a global agreement to establish conditions for accepting AI data centers in their communities. Announced during London Climate Action Week, this pact is the first coordinated effort by city governments to address the strain on power grids, water supplies, and land caused by the rapidly growing data center industry.
The initiative was launched by C40 Cities, an alliance of nearly 100 cities focused on climate action, after mayors from Phoenix, Arizona, and Melbourne, Australia, highlighted similar challenges. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego noted that pending permit requests could double the city's electricity demand if all proposed data centers are built, while Melbourne faces an acute water situation, with planned data centers potentially consuming 4% of the city's drinking water supply annually.
The agreement requires data centers to be built on abandoned or underutilized land, minimizing environmental impact, and to be powered by renewable energy and battery storage while reducing water use, cutting emissions, and capturing waste heat. Additionally, mayors demand that data centers create local jobs, purchase goods and services locally, pay for their own infrastructure upgrades, and engage with community feedback. About half of the signatory cities are in the US, including Seattle, Chicago, Miami, and Palo Alto. C40 Managing Director Cassie Sutherland emphasized that each city will need to translate these global standards into local regulations.