Friends of the Earth is suing Ireland’s energy regulator

We are suing Ireland’s energy regulator, the Commission for the Regulation Utilities (CRU), over its recent decision on data centres. This decision allows the energy-guzzling data centre industry to expand further and risks deepening Ireland’s dependence on dirty, expensive fossil fuels. 

We’re taking the State’s energy regulator to the High Court in conjunction with NGOs Client Earth and Friends of the Irish Environment.

This legal action is core to our work in holding the Government accountable for the climate chaos and damage they’re causing and bringing about real change. Our case is especially pertinent given the context of the current energy crisis - caused by political decisions that keep us dependent on fossil fuels and deepened by illegal wars.

Increased fossil fuel use and emissions 

The CRU produced their long awaited decision on a connection policy for date centres, titled ‘Large Energy Users Connection Policy’, in December last year. This decision essentially puts in place a roadmap for (further) data centre expansion in Ireland for potentially decades, which will lock Ireland into new high-emitting fossil gas for years to come. The data centre expansion this decision would bring about would use as much as 5.8GW of energy [1], which would nearly double the current energy consumption of the entire country.[2]

This is particularly worrying given the context in which this decision has emerged. The biggest demand on our electricity system right now is from data centres, with their energy use growing by a whopping 531% between 2025 to 2024 [3]. Ireland is currently home to approximately 121 data centres [4] with numerous others are at various stages of the planning and construction processes – and the build out is projected to have a colossal impact on Ireland’s electricity use. 

The energy regulator said data centres would be allowed to run on fossil fuels for the next six years, after which they would then be required to run on an energy supply that is at least 80 percent renewable.  However, that 80 percent figure does not factor in the entire electricity consumption of data centres as it excludes back-up generation – a high-intensity process that often runs on fossil gas. This “6 year window” also doesn’t take into account the fact that we need to lower emissions now, not just in the future - especially given that Ireland is set to miss its 2030 emissions-cut target by half. 

The combined elements of this decision will lock Ireland into decades of increased greenhouse gas emissions despite its legal obligations to reduce them, which will have dire social, health and economic implications for everyone in Ireland and beyond. As a wealthy nation with one of the highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the EU [5], Ireland has a moral obligation, too, to do its fair share in reducing polluting emissions.

Impact on the cost-of-living crisis 

Furthermore, the energy regulator’s decision risks exposing Ireland to further dependence on imported fossil fuels. We’re already seeing ordinary people paying the price for Ireland’s existing reliance on imported oil and gas - and the resultant vulnerability to global price shocks - with energy bills soaring in the wake of the US-Israel attack on Iran. Even prior to the current crisis, more than 320,000 people were in arrears on their energy bills [6].

Especially against this backdrop, it’s unconscionable that the State is allowing the data centre industry - already consuming more electricity than all of Ireland’s urban homes combined [7] - to further grow and drive up fossil fuel use. The double whammy of more data centres and increased fossil fuel lock-in means ordinary people will bear the brunt through increased energy bills. Households across Ireland are already paying almost twice as much for electricity as data centres [8].

Besides, data centres are mind-bogglingly water intensive - for example, Meta’s data centre in Clonee uses at least 600 million litres of water a year. [9]

The renewables question: Energy for who and for what?

The energy regulator’s decision notes that new data centres will be required to source at least 80% of their annual electricity demand from additional renewable generation and demonstrate a plan to meet this within six years. However, this does not guarantee actual reductions in emissions. This is merely an accounting exercise and data centres’ colossal energy demand inevitably means more use of fossil fuel power plants.

Equally, we need to prioritise renewable energy for public good - especially housing, healthcare and transport - not for new data centre demand and the private profits of Big Tech. This decision does nothing to prevent data centres from absorbing a significant share of limited renewables, which could also place upward pressure on household energy costs. To transition away from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy, we need to reduce our overall energy demand—further data centre growth is incompatible with this. 

We cannot afford to have a two tier energy system in Ireland where private Big Tech is allowed to soak up all of the cleaner and cheaper renewables, while the rest of us are left to rely on expensive and dirty fossil fuels. We simply can’t say yes to renewables for any kind of activity - certainly not for the further profits of mega rich corporations with dubious ethics. Ultimately we cannot allow our renewables development to become a subsidy for Big Tech while Irish families face the highest electricity prices in Europe.

Against the law

The energy regulator has legal obligations, both under Irish and EU law, to make sure any data centre development does not comprise Ireland’s legally binding climate commitments. And in  its Large Energy Users Connection Policy, the regulator fails to comply with these legal obligations.

The CRU is failing to comply with: 

• Climate Action and Law Carbon Development Act 2015, as amended
• The EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive
• The EU’s Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive
• The Espoo Convention
• The Kiev Protocol to the Espoo Convention
• The Aarhus Convention

The Government needs to change course

Ireland’s energy policy is going in the wrong direction, and with this case, we’re seeking to press pause on that. Instead of cutting down on fossil fuel use - which is driving extreme weather events and worsening inequalities and injustices - we’re locking in more gas just to keep up with soaring demand from data centres.  

If we do not change course, this approach means more reliance on fossil gas in Ireland, more extreme weather events, higher bills, and our climate targets slipping out of reach.

Fundamentally, it also comes down to fair allocation of energy resources and the question of who the energy transition is supposed to serve.

Notes: 

1: https://cruie-live-96ca64acab2247eca8a850a7e54b-5b34f62.divio-media.com/documents/CRU2025236_Large_Energy_User_connection_policy_decision_paper.pdf - page 5

2: https://www.eirgrid.ie/news/new-eirgrid-analysis-examines-balance-between-electricity-demand-and-supply-ireland-over-10 “Ireland recorded a new peak demand of 6,024 MW on Wednesday 8 January 2025.”

3: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-dcmec/datacentresmeteredelectricityconsumption2024/keyfindings - “Quarterly metered electricity consumption by data centres increased steadily from 290 GWh in the first quarter of 2015 to 1,829 GWh in the fourth quarter of 2024. This was an increase of 531%”

4: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/libraryResearch/2025/2025-03-20_the-future-of-data-centres-in-ireland_en.pd

5: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-eiigcc/environmentalindicatorsireland2025-globalcontextandclimate/ - “Ireland had the second highest emissions of greenhouse gases per capita (behind Luxembourg) in the EU-27 in 2023, at 10.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared with an EU-27 average of 6.9 tonnes”

6: https://www.thejournal.ie/energy-bills-arrears-electricity-gas-6969259-Feb2026 

7: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-dcmec/datacentresmeteredelectricityconsumption2024/keyfindings/ 

8: https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/its-a-slap-in-the-face-irish-households-are-paying-twice-as-much-for-electricity-as-data-centres/a1352574572.html 

9: https://sustainability.atmeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Meta-2024-Sustainability-Report.pdf - Data index - Page J - 659 megaliters

Blog by Nandana James, Communications Content Officer